Investiture Level of Hemalurgic Spikes Based on Metals

[Duxredux he/him]

There's about three different ideas to this question, and we'll see if it's already answered. 

First, we know that Allomantic metals seem to be relevant in different magics, particularly in fabrial construction, with the metals seeming to correlate with Allomantic abilities.

Second, Allomantic metals operate as catalysts, filtering the power from Preservation producing the Allomancer's abilities, the metals themselves do not grant the power.

Third, when harvesting attributes from a Mistborn, it seems as if the power granted is based on spike placement on the recipient more than the donor.

So... the question is if you have spikes of the same size but made of the various metals, do they take different levels of Hemalurgic charge in terms of Investiture based on what attribute is stolen, or does each spike take the same sized portion of soul with the power or attribute granted filtered through the metal as the soul gets spliced into a specific section of sDNA? In essence, I'm wondering if like Allomancy and Feruchemical Compounding, Hemalurgy also is a filter for power. Regardless, the question of amount of Investiture harvested could be relevant.

Edited July 12, 2022 by Duxredux

[Oversleep]

4 hours ago, Duxredux said:

Third, when harvesting attributes from a Mistborn, it seems as if the power granted is based on spike placement on the recipient more than the donor.

Exactly opposite:

Quote

Taking a spike and putting it in the wrong place in someone is not going to make them have a different power

Metal determines which abilities you can steal, placement determines which one gets stolen. After you have created the spike, it has a specific power and will grant that power to people the spike is put in (of course, bindpoints still are a thing, you can't just insert the spike randomly and expect it to work).

[Trusk'our he/him]

On 7/12/2022 at 3:22 PM, Duxredux said:

There's about three different ideas to this question, and we'll see if it's already answered. 

First, we know that Allomantic metals seem to be relevant in different magics, particularly in fabrial construction, with the metals seeming to correlate with Allomantic abilities.

Second, Allomantic metals operate as catalysts, filtering the power from Preservation producing the Allomancer's abilities, the metals themselves do not grant the power.

Third, when harvesting attributes from a Mistborn, it seems as if the power granted is based on spike placement on the recipient more than the donor.

So... the question is if you have spikes of the same size but made of the various metals, do they take different levels of Hemalurgic charge in terms of Investiture based on what attribute is stolen, or does each spike take the same sized portion of soul with the power or attribute granted filtered through the metal as the soul gets spliced into a specific section of sDNA? In essence, I'm wondering if like Allomancy and Feruchemical Compounding, Hemalurgy also is a filter for power. Regardless, the question of amount of Investiture harvested could be relevant.

So are you asking if you charge an iron spike Hemalurgically and a tin spike Hemalurgically, they will possess different levels of Investiture? I would think that would be the case. After all, different Allomantic metals burn at different rates because the different abilities do different amounts of "work", and powers that do more work require more Investiture, thus making the metals burn faster. 

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

The longest lasting of the Allomantic metals is actually copper, which is used by Smokers to hide Allomancy. Tin is second, however. Steel and Iron are actually rather quick, but since they're generally used in bursts, it's hard to notice. Both brass and zinc are medium, as is bronze. Pewter burns the fastest of the basic eight, though atium and gold both burn faster than it does.

In my mind, it's related to how much 'work' the metal has to do. That's why pewter, steel, and iron burn so quickly. A lot of weight and power is getting thrown around, while copper only has to do something simple. However, I never really set any of these things hard-fast.

And, only atium is really all that rare. Because of the value of the metals, the noble houses expended a lot of resources finding and exploiting mines to produce the metals. This resulted in a slightly higher value for most of them as opposed to our world, but not really noticeably so, because Allomancers really don't need that much metal. Even fast burning metals, like pewter, are generally only swallowed in very small amounts. (i.e. A small bit goes a long way.)

With this being the case, I would guess that Hemalurgic iron would take a larger amount of Investiture than tin when taken from a human, as added strength seems to be more costly than added senses, and the other metals should follow suit, I would think.