therunner he/him Posted December 8, 2022 Posted December 8, 2022 (edited) Since Brandon has not yet revealed how Medallions are made, and probably won't for a while based on his comments, I have a new theory in light of this WoB Quote Raddatatta In Era 1, Sazed says the only thing you can Feruchemically store while sleeping is wakefulness, but in Era 2 they have the sky ships that require everyone to be storing weight to fly and they don't land while people sleep. Was Sazed just wrong, or is that a difference between normal Feruchemy and using the unsealed metalminds? Brandon Sanderson Unsealed metalminds, I am moving toward complete—you probably already guessed this—mechanical uses of Investiture, and this indeed is a step toward that. And so we are stepping toward having a little machine that gives you powers. That's what the world wants to try to find. And this is—this being mechanical—we'll just say that the medallions and the things that they're building have more of a life-force, more of an Identity of their own than a traditional metalmind does, even though they're unkeyed and all of this stuff. YouTube Spoiler Stream 5 (Dec. 2, 2022) First, what do we actually know about Medallions? Medallions are also known as unsealed metalminds, metalminds that anyone can access Medallion has a nicrosil component (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/316/#e11247) Medallion creation most likely requires F-duralumin (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/122/#e3345) Medallion creation requires "Excisor" Medallion creation is easier with Hemalurgy (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/479/#e15152) Medallion containing multiple powers is difficult (if not impossible) to make, with 3 being top The theory won't be about the full creation process, only about role of Excisor and how Medallions differ from metalminds. Based on the WoB, Medallions are not 'just' objects but have measure of life-force/Identity of their own, over that of usual Metalminds (so it is not just result of being Invested). I think that Excisor extracts part of the spiritweb of the creator of the Medallion, specifically the part that 'controls' the power. Note, not the ability to use Investiture itself, but another part of the soul that is about the volition to use the ability. This fragment of spiritweb is then attached/inserted into the Nicrosil portion (possibly through use of F-duralumin?) and grants the Nicrosil ring a limited volition to use the power, sort of like Awakener can imbue something with breath has measure of will. Final step would be to make the Nicrosil-ring and attached spiritweb 'sticky' (possibly again F-duralumin, or the original holder would have to tap unkeyed metalmind with Connection), so that it sees itself as part of whoever is holding the Medallion (similar to how Ishar Connected Windrunners to ground, and Stormlight tried to fill them). Nicrosil ring modified like this can then sort of attach itself to the spirit web of the holder, and will allow tapping of the powers. The fact that that there is also this partial spiritweb with volition also allows for Medallions to be tapped even when sleeping, as basically the holder of Medallion makes Command to tap, and then the spiritweb of Medallion takes over. Edit: Also Honorblades are self-aware to some extent (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/508/#e15901) and the way they functions was linked to Medallions before (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/331/#e9408) so this would support that Medallions are self-aware to some extent as well, and might actually be what is directing the power. This would also explain why Medallions with multiple powers are very difficult to make. We know that holding multiple Invested Powers results in interference (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/100/#e3440), resulting in e.g. Twinborn and appearance of Ferrings, and there is a reason why there are no Mistings with e.g. 5 powers (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/100/#e3401). Similar effect then would happen in Medallion, where they would have to splice together multiple spiritwebs with different powers, and that splicing would be difficult if not impossible beyond certain number (as TLM Ars Arcanum suggests for Hemalurgy). It would also explain how Hemalurgy would be useful, as it could be used to spike out this part of the spiritweb (though how to transfer it into metalmind, I don't know). Also how excisor does this, and exactly it is, I don't know, this is more of an attempt at explaining the potential role it plays. I would wager Excisor is specialized Medallion/fabrial using F-duralumin, F-Aluminum and F-nicrosil. This then leaves the question of what is going with Bands of Mourning (especially since Kelsier is not Mistborn, nor Feruchemist), but I have separate theory for that (shameless plug). Edited December 8, 2022 by therunner 1
IndigoAjah he/him Posted December 9, 2022 Posted December 9, 2022 (edited) Excisor sounds like a Misting/Ferring Term, just like Leecher etc Maybe a Harmonium Alloy Misting/Ferring? Edited December 9, 2022 by IndigoAjah
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