The Set

[DariusJenai]

So, who are The Set?

Obviously, they're the organization that was funding Miles' robberies, but what are their goals?

The kidnapped women are turned over to them, presumably for an Allomantic breeding program.

Miles says they're part of the establishment, which makes me wonder if they're at least a semi-official branch of the Elendel nobles, or a breakaway church. He does mention that they seek revolution, however.

More importantly, Suit claims that Miles got his ideology from him. So at least some, if not all of Miles Trellist ideals probably got filtered down from Suit.

So, we have a (semi-official?) group that wants a revolution, is presumed to be involved in breeding Allomancers, and possibly follows Trellism.

Also, does anyone else think its odd that they're taking the closest bloodlines to Mistborn, but as far as we know, aren't mixing in Feruchemists? If their goal is to breed an army, you'd think an army of Twinborn would be more effective than an army of Mistings.

This gives me 2 potential goals that I think they're going for.

1) The more likely scenario in my opinion is that they aren't trying to breed an army of Mistings, but are trying to breed a Mistborn instead. In that situation, the lack of Terris blood would be a strength, not a weakness.

2) They are trying to breed an army of Mistings, but only for the purpose of using Hemalurgy to create a Mistborn instead. This is a fairly far-out situation, since we have no evidence the Set knows anything of Hemalurgy.

[lauren.e135 she/her]

1) The more likely scenario in my opinion is that they aren't trying to breed an army of Mistings, but are trying to breed a Mistborn instead. In that situation, the lack of Terris blood would be a strength, not a weakness.

This is my guess. We know in the future there is at least one Mistborn. So either Sazed granted someone the powers again and their descendent became a serial killer, or a group of people bred one. Considering Sazed seems to not want Mistborn around (somewhere in some text there was comment that he thought they had too much power) I don't think he randomly changed his mind.

Also, as you've stated, if they were simply breeding an army (a la Straff Venture) it would be ideal to mix the two bloodlines.

One thing I was wondering through reading AoL, is why the Set thinks the Mistborn will work for them? I suppose brainwashing of some kind but that can still backfire. Also, it's a very long term goal which gives some insight into their actual goals (assuming that breeding a Mistborn is just for the sake of gaining a powerful tool).

And if they want a revolution, they're being much more careful about it than our friends in FE. My guess is that the goal isn't simply to tear down a government (FE) but to switch it with a new one.

[DariusJenai]

One thing I was wondering through reading AoL, is why the Set thinks the Mistborn will work for them? I suppose brainwashing of some kind but that can still backfire. Also, it's a very long term goal which gives some insight into their actual goals (assuming that breeding a Mistborn is just for the sake of gaining a powerful tool).

If you raise someone from birth, you get to control their belief system. If he's been raised since birth to believe that Mistborn (i.e Him) and Mistings are superior, its not hard to believe that he could start thinking of people as simple things for his amusement.

[lauren.e135 she/her]

If you raise someone from birth, you get to control their belief system. If he's been raised since birth to believe that Mistborn (i.e Him) and Mistings are superior, its not hard to believe that he could start thinking of people as simple things for his amusement.

True.

Now back to your original question: What's the point? I'm going to assume they want to breed a Mistborn, but for what purpose? What ideal has brought this group of people together? If we assume they want Mistborn and Misting superiority should we also assume they are Mistings themselves? Or are they an exception to their own rule? Or perhaps, the possible new system of government it also just a tool to achieve the real goal?

Or maybe they just like playing with powerful toys.

Who are they?

What drives them?

And what is the purpose behind the religion (Trell)and the Mistborn? Or are thy just manipulative tools (change in ideology & brute force).

[Chicken]

A Mistborn would be far too powerful in modern Scadrial. He'd surely seem as stronger than puny mortals as Lord Ruler was stronger than skaa. He may not live forever but a guy like that could quickly gather a lot of power for himself. He could even go so far as to claim to be Last Emperor reborn (or the Ascendant Warrior if it's a woman), who would argue with a full deck of Allomantic powers in one person? Sure, not everyone would buy that and Harmony and/or Ironeyes might step in (not that anyone setting up such a scam would expect that as they'd be considering all this stuff mythology), but that's just one possible idea for a full Mistborn to seize worldly power. There's bound to be many many ways to gain power or become the ruling caste if a group of rich/powerful/influential people has a Mistborn on their side.

All this, of course, assumes they're really trying to create a Mistborn. Which is a large assumption.

More on topic, they're obviously a group of rich/influential men who want to gain even more of that, possibly with a final goal of ruling the world. There's never a shortage of that kind of guys in fiction. They'd prolly justify themselves by talking about some noble ideology or other, but their kind of badguy is ultimately always the same.

[lauren.e135 she/her]

He could even go so far as to claim to be Last Emperor reborn (or the Ascendant Warrior if it's a woman), who would argue with a full deck of Allomantic powers in one person?

Hmm, wow. I didn't even think of that. That would certainly be interesting. And who knows, the Mistborn may not even need to make those claims. Those religious enough might simply deem him/her the Last Emperor/Ascendent Warrior returned. And even if he/she starts killing people, they might claim they're being punished for something. That could certainly be very interesting.

[Deus Ex Biotica]

2) They are trying to breed an army of Mistings, but only for the purpose of using Hemalurgy to create a Mistborn instead. This is a fairly far-out situation, since we have no evidence the Set knows anything of Hemalurgy.

Very out there, especially in light of the fact that there seem to be a lot of Mistings (there are newspaper ads for their services!), so on the off chance that anyone did know how to use Hemalurgy, they could use it without needing a lot of high-profile kidnappings - it would be much easier to hire a seeker and hunt down outlaws and lowlifes who are Mistings, and murder them quietly.

I agree with most of this thread: The Set wants a Mistborn. Probably as a way to amass power (and a Mistborn would be very powerful, doubly so since many people seem to doubt whether they ever existed), but maybe they really are some twisted cult who think they are doing some sort of holy work. Either way, they'd better hope that Marsh runs out of Atium and dies before they succeed - with the full powers of Mistborn and Feruchemist, plus Atium to use if things get desperate, I really don't see many ways for a normal Mistborn to stop him, and if one of those started murdering/brainwashing everybody, he might very well get involved.

-- Deus Ex Biotica

[name_here]

I'm pretty sure they're attempting to breed a Mistborn, their targeting is just way too specific to make sense otherwise. Kidnapping Spook's descendents is just far too much work to justify the slightly higher odds of scoring regular Mistings if they're going for an army, and if they were creating a synthetic Mistborn they could indeed just murder completely random people. If power level is an issue, they could just murder more random people instead of targeting a handful of powerful people.

What confuses me is that they're apparently not trying to create a Mistborn Keeper, since however they intend to get the Mistborn to obey them should apply equally well to a combo. Then again, the other half of the breeding group might be a bunch of Twinborn. Still, it's possible trying that could complicate the project depending on how Feruchemy and Allomancy inheritance patterns work and conflict.

[Deus Ex Biotica]

I just assumed they were racist, actually.

That might be thinking too small, given how devious we're lead to believe that they are, but the black uniforms, rhetoric about people born with special powers and "destined" to lead, etc. gave me that feeling.

Alternately, it might just be a matter of probability. Trying to breed a single Mistborn after centuries without any would be hard enough. Trying to get a Keeper (I've decided to try this term out, rather than the cumbersome "Full Ferruchemist") on top of that would slow an already uncertain process into outright implausibility.

-- Deus ex Biotica

[Aiken Frost he/him]

I just assumed they were racist, actually.

That might be thinking too small, given how devious we're lead to believe that they are, but the black uniforms, rhetoric about people born with special powers and "destined" to lead, etc. gave me that feeling.

Wow wow wow wow wow! Hold on a second! Nazi-allomancers!?

You just introduced something to my mind now: what if the second Mistborn trilogy is in a WWII type of setting? With THE SET becoming some sort of Nazi group, trying to hold power, coming out of the shadows after their army of Mistborns was bred and large enough for all-out war? And the serial-killer that will be the villain is one of their super-soldiers that went rogue?

Holy. Crap. My mind just blew up with the sheer awesomeness of the possibility.

I need to see that NOW!!! If that does not turn to be the plot for the book, I will totally GM this with the Mistborn RPG for my group!

Also: extra awesome points for Captain Allomantica!

Edited November 22, 2011 by Aiken Frost

[CrazyRioter she/her]

wow I'm not the only one that thought about the Nazis as soon as that was brought up!

Sadly I think the second trilogy is supposed to be more modern then that, but we could totally run a WW2-era equivalent game!

[Deus Ex Biotica]

What I've seen on these 'boards indicates that the second trilogy starts, at least, with Misting cops tracking down a Mistborn Serial Killer. So, by all means, run a Scadrial War II game yourself!

... although, regarding Captain Allomantica, I must caution you: there is only one method in the Metallic Arts I know of which could take a small asthmatic (who probably is Gnat, or has Copperminds, or something) and, by means of a short but painful and deeply secret procedure, turn them into a war-changing Super Soldier, and it is not known for a track record of creating heroes.

-- Deus Ex Biotica

[Aiken Frost he/him]

wow I'm not the only one that thought about the Nazis as soon as that was brought up!

Sadly I think the second trilogy is supposed to be more modern then that, but we could totally run a WW2-era equivalent game!

Well, I didn't meant the time period or anything like that. By "WWII-like setting" what I really meant was that the world is at war, fighting against "nazis". Could totally be in a current-era type setting too. We only would have soldiers packing S.C.A.R. rifles instead of M-1 Garand rifles!

And if someone decides to GM a PbF in this setting, please, don't forget to invite me!

What I've seen on these 'boards indicates that the second trilogy starts, at least, with Misting cops tracking down a Mistborn Serial Killer. So, by all means, run a Scadrial War II game yourself!

... although, regarding Captain Allomantica, I must caution you: there is only one method in the Metallic Arts I know of which could take a small asthmatic (who probably is Gnat, or has Copperminds, or something) and, by means of a short but painful and deeply secret procedure, turn them into a war-changing Super Soldier, and it is not known for a track record of creating heroes.

-- Deus Ex Biotica

Hah, what is a military story without a small dose of conspirations and really dirt secrets hidden under the rug? Nuthin', I say! NUTHIN'!!!

[Deus Ex Biotica]

And if someone decides to GM a PbF in this setting, please, don't forget to invite me!

I'm reasonably certain that anyone trying to start a Mistborn online RPG of any kind will either post it here, or is not seeking new players.

[Thor he/him]

While the idea that the Set is trying to "breed" a Mistborn is probably the best and most likely idea, there is something that seems to be missing: why aren't they also kidnapping males from Spook's family tree?

If they want a powerful Mistborn quickly, they need to add Spook's genes on both sides of the equation. They would get a Mistborn much faster by using men and women with Spook's genes instead of only one of the two parents being a descendant. This leads me to believe that some (or all) of the leaders of the Set are descendants of Spook and are planning on using themselves to further their goals... as if they weren't already creepy enough!

[Deus Ex Biotica]

They did have a train car full of Allomancers, who I assume are mostly male (though Push and Pull are the only ones we get a distinct gender of).

And even Wax contemplated his uncle being part of the breeding, and he was just as squicked out as you.

[Wispsy he/him]

Aye wax's uncle comes from a strong line! Others probably do too

[Deus Ex Biotica]

Also, a forced breeding project needs more females than males.

Argh. Can we talk about something else? For example: how much power does the Set really have? They talk like they're invincible, but Wax's uncle staged his own death to work with them (which has advantages, but also removes some measure of policial clout), and I doubt that many other noble Houses are in on it, either - if they were, they could just have Aluminum smuggled to them directly, rather than robbing someone else's smuggled shipments.

-- Deis Ex Niotica

[happyman he/him]

Also, a forced breeding project needs more females than males.

Argh. Can we talk about something else? For example: how much power does the Set really have? They talk like they're invincible, but Wax's uncle staged his own death to work with them (which has advantages, but also removes some measure of policial clout), and I doubt that many other noble Houses are in on it, either - if they were, they could just have Aluminum smuggled to them directly, rather than robbing someone else's smuggled shipments.

-- Deis Ex Niotica

Two good points. I think that first point needed to be said. Full stop.

As for the second one, I'm guessing that House Landrian is the only one whose leader is whole-heartedly in on the conspiracy. I'd think that even a second major house working with them would be able to access Aluminum on the sly in a much less traceable way. Don't forget, though, that the theft's had multiple purposes. They had three uses to the Set: give them a less traceable way to get the job done by working through pawns, distract people from the kidnappings, and give the thieves a clear and "honest" motive which would cause people to generally not look harder at the little details.