Tie-in to next series (spoiler)

[Yados]

Guys, not to say you're all thinking a little small time, but with Ferumancy having been introduced into the bloodlines of Scadrial, you could breed a Mistborn who was also (at the very least) a Ferring Compounder.

Also, if they did create a "new lord ruler", full feruchemist and mistborn, wouldn't he be more powerful than Marsh simply by having access to ALL the metals, rather than just the one that the Steel Ministry knew about in the original trilogy?

I mean, I assume that Marsh doesn't have a bendalloy spike.

Just thoughts.

Edited November 26, 2011 by Yados

[Deus Ex Biotica]

Someone with full Allomantic and Ferruchemical abilities would be better than Marsh at everything except being a Seeker (Marsh started as one, so he can now pierce Copperclouds), and experience (300-400 years of practice don't seem to have taught him much about emotional Allomancy, but I assume he's gotten good at some other things). For now, however, The Set seems entirely focused on Allomancy. I do sometimes contemplate a matchup between Marsh and a modern Mistborn with all sixteen metals - Bendalloy is of limited use when you're facing off against someone who can Compound speed and probably Strength as well (you could dodge bullets or coins, but Marsh would just want to get in close and tear you apart), but Chromium is a nasty advantage. Maybe Marsh isn't such a trump card, after all. Then again, push him far enough, and he might be willing to burn some of that priceless Atium he' got...

The setting of the second book has been described alternately as "modern" and "20th century". El Trains are a definite possibility.

-- Deus Ex Biotica

P.S. I wonder what Speed Bubbles look like to Atium burners?

[lordofsoup]

Full mistborn/Feruchemist might be nasty, but He does happen to have a rather sizable chunk of Atium, and presumably has been storing Feruchemical charge for 300+ years. And he got his powers 300 years ago, meaning that they would be stronger, assuming limited delay of implantation. I also dont know why Sazed would make Spook a full Mistborn and not give it to Marsh as an insurance policy.

[Yados]

Full mistborn/Feruchemist might be nasty, but He does happen to have a rather sizable chunk of Atium, and presumably has been storing Feruchemical charge for 300+ years. And he got his powers 300 years ago, meaning that they would be stronger, assuming limited delay of implantation. I also dont know why Sazed would make Spook a full Mistborn and not give it to Marsh as an insurance policy.

Well, Sazed and Marsh seemed to tolerate one another rather than be allied. Furthermore, if Sazed gave Marsh full Mistborn/Feruchemist abilities, he wouldn't still have/need the spikes. He has his powers through hemalurgy still at the end of the book.

But beyond that, Marsh has Atium, presumably an Atium spike as well, but he burns it at the cost of his ability to compound age, the only thing keeping him alive at this point.

Edited November 26, 2011 by Yados

[Kurkistan he/him]

Well, Sazed and Marsh seemed to tolerate one another rather than be allied. Furthermore, if Sazed gave Marsh full Mistborn/Feruchemist abilities, he wouldn't still have/need the spikes. He has them through hemalurgy still at the end of the book.

But beyond that, Marsh has Atium, presumably an Atium spike as well, but he burns it at the cost of his ability to compound age, the only thing keeping him alive at this point.

Being double-strength in several of the Feruchemical and Allomantic powers would still be desirable for Marsh, I think. I agree, though, that Sazed and Marsh don't seem to be working together in AoL.

[Yados]

Being double-strength in several of the Feruchemical and Allomantic powers would still be desirable for Marsh, I think. I agree, though, that Sazed and Marsh don't seem to be working together in AoL.

Oh true. I forgot spikes could increase power in abilities that existed naturally in its host. That seems odd in light of new information as it seems like storing investiture.

[Kurkistan he/him]

Oh true. I forgot spikes could increase power in abilities that existed naturally in its host. That seems odd in light of new information as it seems like storing investiture.

While storing Investiture would presumably be reducing your "natural" ability to use magic for a time in order to improve your ability at a later date, Hemalurgy simply steals somebody else's ability wholesale, permanently increasing the inherent Investiture of the spiked individual. For someone without the power the spike grants, this would be an increase from 0 to 1, while someone who already possessed the spike's ability would have their inherent ability go from 1 to 2.

[Arcanist Lupus he/him]

Being double-strength in several of the Feruchemical and Allomantic powers would still be desirable for Marsh, I think. I agree, though, that Sazed and Marsh don't seem to be working together in AoL.

They're not opposing each other, either. They just have different opinions on how much the world should be nudged towards the proper end result.

Also, as far as Marsh being made full Mistborn, it doesn't matter whether they're working together in AoL, only if they were working together at the end of HoA.

Also, I believe that Sazed has to have given Marsh some powers, because it wouldn't make sense for TLR or Ruin to give Marsh a Feruchemical Age spike.

[Kurkistan he/him]

They're not opposing each other, either. They just have different opinions on how much the world should be nudged towards the proper end result.

Also, as far as Marsh being made full Mistborn, it doesn't matter whether they're working together in AoL, only if they were working together at the end of HoA.

Also, I believe that Sazed has to have given Marsh some powers, because it wouldn't make sense for TLR or Ruin to give Marsh a Feruchemical Age spike.

As to the Feruchemical Age spike, the theory has been raised that Ruin was shaping Marsh as his long-term champion/avatar, either before Ruin's release during WoA when Ruin's release wasn't certain or afterwards as a precautions against being imprisoned again. Ruin would have good reason to make sure his super-champion was long-lasting.

[Arondell]

Remember that their technology will not develop the same way ours has. Obviously some things have to come before others (you wouldn't have airplanes before carriages, presumably), but their technology level doesn't have to (I would even say, shouldn't) fit neatly into one period...

I may be wrong in my particular extrapolations, but the fact remains that the technology on Scadrial will almost certainly not develop as it did on Earth. They won't have "1980s-level technology" overall at any point; there might simultaneously be some areas that were developed well into the 21st century and while others were stuck in the 1950s.

Certain patterns are very likely to be duplicated though. Aluminum is a very useful metal in a lot of industrial ways. Being low on the periodic table its likely to be extremely common barring some effort on Harmonies part to remove it during his terraforming. So it would be expected that quite a few people would put a lot of effort into finding a way to extract it from the environment in a cost effective manner. Adding the whole alomantic aspect would just make it more desirable to do so. In a "modern" technological environment with a particular interest in metallurgy I would kind of want a reason why it wasn't fairly cheap.

[fyodor]

Also, I believe that Sazed has to have given Marsh some powers, because it wouldn't make sense for TLR or Ruin to give Marsh a Feruchemical Age spike.

I guess that I don't find this to be that questionable. Ruin didn't even know that he would be freed when they attacked the Feruchemists. It seems entirely plausible to me that he would want an immortal superpowerful slave that could keep up the fight indefinitely. And even after he was freed it doesn't seem like a bad idea to have someone ready just in case.

Edited November 28, 2011 by fyodor

[happyman he/him]

Certain patterns are very likely to be duplicated though. Aluminum is a very useful metal in a lot of industrial ways. Being low on the periodic table its likely to be extremely common barring some effort on Harmonies part to remove it during his terraforming. So it would be expected that quite a few people would put a lot of effort into finding a way to extract it from the environment in a cost effective manner. Adding the whole alomantic aspect would just make it more desirable to do so. In a "modern" technological environment with a particular interest in metallurgy I would kind of want a reason why it wasn't fairly cheap.

These are all very good points. In technological progress, it's typically about feasibility and usability. Given the technology we see in Alloy of Law, refining Aluminum should soon be both feasible and usable. It's gonna happen sooner rather than later.