Kandra and hemalurgical spikes

[Ari he/him]

I don't know whether this has been asked before, but I have what I hope is an interesting question:

What happens if a kandra uses a hemalurgical spike with allomantic or feruchemical powers instead of just a human-charged spike? Would it be sufficient on its own to stop them from being a mistwraith, or would they need a human-charged spike too? Would it allow them to use metalminds or burn metals, or have some other effect?

[Deus Ex Biotica]

This has been speculated upon, but to my knowledge, there is no confirmed answer.

Edited December 1, 2011 by Deus Ex Biotica

[lauren.e135 she/her]

Didn't they though? Their blessings granted different strengths. Some kandra were stronger than others because of their Blessings, where as TenSoon had more sanity from his blessing (he contemplates how he will never have the escape of madness during his imprisonment because of his Blessing of Presence(?)).

[Ari he/him]

Didn't they though? Their blessings granted different strengths. Some kandra were stronger than others because of their Blessings, where as TenSoon had more sanity from his blessing (he contemplates how he will never have the escape of madness during his imprisonment because of his Blessing of Presence(?)).

"Blessing" is the Kandra term for a spike hemalurgically charged with basic human attributes instead of allomantic or feruchemical powers. The four blessings Tensoon discusses in HoA line up exactly with the four human attributes that can be stolen through hemalurgic spikes, (you can read about that in the ars arcanum at the end) so it's pretty clear that kandra need hemalurgy to live- but we've never seen a Kandra use a spike that is allomantically or feruchemically charged, either on its own, or as a second spike like Tensoon did with his second "blessing".

Koloss were also spiked with basic human attributes, so presumably the same answer would apply to them, too.

Edited December 1, 2011 by Ari

[Chaos he/him]

I don't think an Allomantic spike would grant a kandra sentience. Spikes charged with a metallic ability don't warp the body as much as human-charged spikes, as we can see from the differences with Inquisitors and koloss. In the case of the kandra, they would need that "warping", because they need that base Preservation that's in people (and grants people sentience) to become sentient themselves. So it's a weird reversal in that way.

As an aside, if a human was an Allomancer and became a koloss, they do retain their Allomantic ability. However, Brandon hinted that they may or may not have the mental faculty to use them. That's kind of the opposite question to the one you're asking, Ari, since koloss started human, then were twisted by Hemalurgy.

So could a kandra be granted an Allomantic power? I think it's certainly possible. It'd be very challenging to do, at least, since mistwraiths would most likely have very different spiritual pressure points than in humans.

[lauren.e135 she/her]

"Blessing" is the Kandra term for a spike hemalurgically charged with basic human attributes instead of allomantic or feruchemical powers. The four blessings Tensoon discusses in HoA line up exactly with the four human attributes that can be stolen through hemalurgic spikes, so it's pretty clear that kandra need hemalurgy to live- but we've never seen a Kandra use a spike that is allomantically or feruchemically charged, either on its own, or as a second spike like Tensoon did with his second "blessing".

Koloss were also spiked with basic human attributes, so presumably the same answer would apply to them, too.

Oh yes, thanks. Ha, I was simply thinking of the powers gaining and completely forgot about interaction with metal (burning/tapping).

Hmm, and considering the way a kandra's body is built, they wouldn't even have to "eat" a metal to burn it, right? They could just be touching it considering that's all they have to do to digest food anyways. That would certainly be fun to see. They wouldn't have to worry about filing the metal down into small shavings. As long as the metal was allomantically pure enough, they could just touch it and burn it to gain the powers right?

[Ari he/him]

I was also wondering if they could be granted the allomantic powers in a way that functions differently to traditional allomancy (or the same with feruchemy) considering that Kandra bind points probably function very differently to human ones.

For instance maybe they could draw strength from touching a metal- that could lead to kandra wearing metal bones, which could be interesting.

edit: And yeah, I was assuming that it wouldn't have enough human spirit in the other types of spikes to grant a Kandra full sentience, although perhaps a Kandra with an allomantic spike only might behave more like a child than an animal? *shrug*

Edited December 1, 2011 by Ari

[Chaos he/him]

And yeah, I was assuming that it wouldn't have enough human spirit in the other types of spikes to grant a Kandra full sentience, although perhaps a Kandra with an allomantic spike only might behave more like a child than an animal? *shrug*

Maybe, but I don't think so. Those Allomantic spikes are hardwiring a very specific trait into someone's Spiritweb. Yes, normally Allomancy would require enough Preservation, but I think Hemalurgy is cheating around that fact.

I'd think that if you used one spike for the Blessing (rather than two, which is apparently pretty important), then you'd get a very childlike kandra.

EDIT: I also edited the topic title for spelling. Hope you don't mind.

Edited December 1, 2011 by Ookla the Inalterable

[Deus Ex Biotica]

I think it would be easy enough to give a Kandra Allomancy once it already exists - TenSoon has no trouble internalizing OreSeur's spikes, after all. Whether you can make one that way is more questionable - I would assume that you would just wind up with slightly-smarter-than-average Mistwraith which sometimes burns metals instinctively, which could be a pretty nasty surprise to spring on an enemy, but is not a real Kandra.

As for whether Kandra have enough of a stomach to "burn" anything, they can create various different types of muscle, eye, etc. if they need to. I am certain they could make stomachs, too.

-- Deus Ex Biotica