A couple of hemalurgy questions (spoilers for AoL)

[Deus Ex Biotica]

I do not think it is possible to charge a spike from someone without killing them, but I suppose I do not know that for certain.

As for gaining the ability to use someone else's metalminds, I had been wondering that myself. It is doubly compelling if those Metalminds hold Feruchemical Spiritual abilities...

[CrazyRioter she/her]

actually Brandon said that it's possible to charge a spike from somebody without killing them. And I would guess that the "donor" in such a situation would lose most, if not all of the power.

[Asha'man Logain]

actually Brandon said that it's possible to charge a spike from somebody without killing them. And I would guess that the "donor" in such a situation would lose most, if not all of the power.

I would say that it takes all of whatever attribute the spike is attuned to, ripping that part of the 'spiritweb' out of the soul of the donor, losing some in the process, until it is grafted onto the recipient.

[fyodor]

I think it is implied that the capturing (and not killing) was done during book 2 but the spiking was done after Ruin was released (the Prologue of Hero of Ages.)

I kind of got the impression that it was ongoing, but I guess that it's ambiguous. I don't know the exact time frame, but it seems that it happened early enough in book 2 for the refugees to reach Elend. It seems odd that they would kill all of the Keepers for the purpose of getting their powers and then hold off.

[fyodor]

In book two the inquisitors were giving themselves feruchemy spikes. They didn't need the approval of Ruin or TLR. They didn't really have a leader at the time (TLR was dead, and Ruin's touch was weak), and therefore were just having fun powering themselves up, so to speak.

I think that by this point they were under Ruin's influence. My understanding is that once TLR wasn't keeping control of them Ruin could take control. For example, he was able to get Marsh to try to kill Sazed.

Edited November 21, 2011 by fyodor

[Deus Ex Biotica]

actually Brandon said that it's possible to charge a spike from somebody without killing them. And I would guess that the "donor" in such a situation would lose most, if not all of the power.

Huh.

In light of the odd things Brandon mentioned about burning your own Hemalurgic spike, even surviving with a small amount of power is a curious possibility.

[Chaos he/him]

actually Brandon said that it's possible to charge a spike from somebody without killing them. And I would guess that the "donor" in such a situation would lose most, if not all of the power.

I was there when the question was asked, so I'll talk about that for a second.

Yes, you can charge a spike without killing them. However, to charge a Hemalurgic spike, you still need to rip off a portion of the soul (I believe Brandon said a "large" portion of the soul, but I honestly don't remember, so don't quote me on that). So while a person might be alive, but he is really not the same at all.

[Deus Ex Biotica]

Here's a Hemalurgy question: would it be possible to give a Mistwraith spikes carrying an Allomantic or Ferruchemical power, thus creating a Kandra with additional powers?

(I searched the Brandonthology and found nothing, so I understand if nobody knows, but I find it an interesting question.)

Unlike other things made through Hemalurgy, Kandra start as Mistwraiths, who might or might not even have real Bind Points (since their bodies are amorphous). Further, maybe they don't even become Kandra if you don't give them raw attributes, since giving attributes rather than powers is noted for physically warping the target more, and if you didn't warp a Miswraith enough, would it even be sentient?

Then again, TenSoon can gain the benefits of two sets of Blessings just by oozing around them, so maybe all you need to do is make a normal Kandra, then hand it some Allomantic/Ferruchemical spikes?

-- Deus Ex Biotica

[Bremen]

Hemalurgy is often described as stapling two souls together, thus I always assumed the bind points were spiritual not physical. The physical points would then merely correspond to the particular part of the spiritweb being targeted.

If true lacking a shoulder should not prevent mistwraiths being "upgraded" with hemalurgy.

[Eric]

Ten Soon specifically recreates organs pierced by the Blessings to gain the benefit (HoA 347). I think that points to the bind points being physical locations. Mistwraiths are a bit weird because they have so many body parts; it might be super easy to even accidentally hit the right spot (lots of skulls could mean lots of ears to spike for Bronze), or it might be entirely impossible (no appendix for... whatever you might get for spiking your appendix). It also shows the Kandra knowing the bind points to use for the Blessings, which makes perfect sense but was something I hadn't really considered much.

Here's a thought: Kelsier says that a Mistwraith creates an exact copy of the creatures it digests before deciding which parts to keep and which to toss. So maybe feeding a Mistwraith a body with spikes in it would mean the corpse gets metabolized and absorbed into the Mistwraith, spiking it automatically. I've been wondering how they would get it into the proper muscles and organs, but that seems pretty workable. (Also, it brings the body count to three humans per Kandra instead of two, assuming they use a human body to spike and feed.)

Edited November 26, 2011 by Eric

[Deus Ex Biotica]

Here's a thought: Kelsier says that a Mistwraith creates an exact copy of the creatures it digests before deciding which parts to keep and which to toss. So maybe feeding a Mistwraith a body with spikes in it would mean the corpse gets metabolized and absorbed into the Mistwraith, spiking it automatically. I've been wondering how they would get it into the proper muscles and organs, but that seems pretty workable. (Also, it brings the body count to three humans per Kandra instead of two, assuming they use a human body to spike and feed.)

That makes a lot of sense to me - I'll buy it.

3 humans for a Kandra, 5 for a Koloss, and 11-12 for a "normal" Inquisitor (depending on whether you count the "base" person, since Inquisitors appear to have complete memories of their human lives) - Kandra are still the most bloodless of Hemalurgic creations known.

-- Deus Ex Biotica