Hemalurgy in a Box?

[Trusk'our he/him]

There's a short story about Allomancer Jak interacting with a group of Koloss. Inside the story, he finds a treasure; a pile of old Koloss spikes which are kept within a box lined with aluminum.

Now, we know that aluminum can prevent a Hemalurgic spike from leaking Investiture, but I had assumed that it worked like gas under pressure, so aluminum would only work to prevent leakage if it were an air-tight coating sticking to the spike (such as if a previously charged spike were to be dunked into molten aluminum).

However, it seems that this story suggests that this isn't the case; you only need to put the spike a box or something of the like to make it work.

It may be that it's more of a field effect that aluminum provides, similar to aluminum hats protecting from Emotional Allomancy.

Quote

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/73/#e4302

Questioner

Is aluminum shielding from emotional Allomancy strictly line of sight? So, can someone in the basement bypass somebody’s aluminum hat on the first floor

Brandon Sanderson

No, they could not. You just put enough aluminum there and it disrupts.

Questioner

So it disrupts like a field.

Brandon Sanderson

Yep.

So basically, I now think that the aluminum that prevents Hemalurgic decay works like that; it's a field that "confuses" the spikes, making them think that there is nothing else for them to seep into surrounding them, so instead of following their impulse towards seeking equilibrium they just keep their Investiture put.

You may not even need to completely coat the spike to prevent decay, you probably just need enough nearby to confuse the spikes.

[alder24]

29 minutes ago, Trusk'our said:

There's a short story about Allomancer Jak interacting with a group of Koloss. Inside the story, he finds a treasure; a pile of old Koloss spikes which are kept within a box lined with aluminum.

Now, we know that aluminum can prevent a Hemalurgic spike from leaking Investiture, but I had assumed that it worked like gas under pressure, so aluminum would only work to prevent leakage if it were an air-tight coating sticking to the spike (such as if a previously charged spike were to be dunked into molten aluminum).

However, it seems that this story suggests that this isn't the case; you only need to put the spike a box or something of the like to make it work.

It may be that it's more of a field effect that aluminum provides, similar to aluminum hats protecting from Emotional Allomancy.

So basically, I now think that the aluminum that prevents Hemalurgic decay works like that; it's a field that "confuses" the spikes, making them think that there is nothing else for them to seep into surrounding them, so instead of following their impulse towards seeking equilibrium they just keep their Investiture put.

You may not even need to completely coat the spike to prevent decay, you probably just need enough nearby to confuse the spikes.

Yes, it's very likely that the field of aluminum prevents decay from happening. And I would say that aluminum separates investiture in spike from SR, therefore investiture can't escape anymore, it's flow is disturbed and investiture is simply stuck in PR instead. Like a small hole in a full water bottle, once plugged, water stops flowing, but when you unplug it, water starts flowing again with normal flow.

[Trusk'our he/him]

12 minutes ago, alder24 said:

Yes, it's very likely that the field of aluminum prevents decay from happening. And I would say that aluminum separates investiture in spike from SR, therefore investiture can't escape anymore, it's flow is disturbed and investiture is simply stuck in PR instead. Like a small hole in a full water bottle, once plugged, water stops flowing, but when you unplug it, water starts flowing again with normal flow.

Interesting idea.

I wonder if that would prevent someone from performing Hemalurgy in the first place? For example, if a Hemalurgist wanted to charge a spike and they were inside a giant aluminum box, would they be able to draw on Ruin to pull the Investiture from the Donor, or would the aluminum prevent this?

If there is interference, perhaps aluminum could be used to shield someone from Hemalurgic theft; enough aluminum on a person would mess with Hemalurgy's ability to Connect to access the SR, which would prevent any spikes from ripping off chunks of their Spiritweb (though it wouldn't stop the physical damage).

Additionally, perhaps this is why aluminum helmets can't just be used by Inquisitors or Kandra to prevent them from being controlled? There's just too much interference with their own spikes perhaps?

[alder24]

10 minutes ago, Trusk'our said:

I wonder if that would prevent someone from performing Hemalurgy in the first place? For example, if a Hemalurgist wanted to charge a spike and they were inside a giant aluminum box, would they be able to draw on Ruin to pull the Investiture from the Donor, or would the aluminum prevent this?

Good question. Hemalurgy just rips part of the soul into the spike, so I guess there would be no problem with performing it inside an aluminum box. The soul is there, spike is there, intent is there. But it is a possibility, depending on what is happening with that investiture when it's ripped away. If investiture in spike is being corrupted by Ruin, doing it in aluminum box might have weird consequences, or even something like giving better Allomancy to the recipient, as he gets clean investiture, like in natural Allomancer (fewer investiture is lost during spiking process).

[Quantus he/him]

3 hours ago, alder24 said:

Yes, it's very likely that the field of aluminum prevents decay from happening. And I would say that aluminum separates investiture in spike from SR, therefore investiture can't escape anymore, it's flow is disturbed and investiture is simply stuck in PR instead. Like a small hole in a full water bottle, once plugged, water stops flowing, but when you unplug it, water starts flowing again with normal flow.

 

3 hours ago, alder24 said:

Good question. Hemalurgy just rips part of the soul into the spike, so I guess there would be no problem with performing it inside an aluminum box. The soul is there, spike is there, intent is there. But it is a possibility, depending on what is happening with that investiture when it's ripped away. If investiture in spike is being corrupted by Ruin, doing it in aluminum box might have weird consequences, or even something like giving better Allomancy to the recipient, as he gets clean investiture, like in natural Allomancer (fewer investiture is lost during spiking process).

I dont think Aluminum blocks effects that rely on crossing realmic boudaries, given that

Spoiler

you can Soulcast while inside a giant Aluminum Box

.  If that's true but the Aluminum box indeed prevented the Decay, it might imply that the decay is leaking/dispersing the investiture into the Physical realm (initially, at least) before transitioning back into the SR and/or the general planetary ecosystem.