Compounding Question- AoL spoiler

[MasterGhandalf]

I've just been in a discussion about AoL on another board and the question came up of whether or not a Compounder can burn their metal for its allomantic properties while simultaneously having their Compounding going? So, for example, could TLR burn regular atium to see the future while also burning feruchemically-enhanced atium to keep himself young? I figured "yes", on the assumption that they would show up as distinct metal reserves, and also based on the fact that Miles burns regular gold in AoL and seemingly never turns his Compounding off, but I was wondering if anyone knew for sure/if Brandon had spoken about this?

[Kurkistan he/him]

I've just been in a discussion about AoL on another board and the question came up of whether or not a Compounder can burn their metal for its allomantic properties while simultaneously having their Compounding going? So, for example, could TLR burn regular atium to see the future while also burning feruchemically-enhanced atium to keep himself young? I figured "yes", on the assumption that they would show up as distinct metal reserves, and also based on the fact that Miles burns regular gold in AoL and seemingly never turns his Compounding off, but I was wondering if anyone knew for sure/if Brandon had spoken about this?

Miles could have just been drawing from his metalminds for the few brief moments when he used his Augur ability, so that isn't evidence, but I agree that it makes sense for them to show up as two distinct metal reserves.

[MasterGhandalf]

I think the bigger question is "did he burn it while still Compounding"- whether he used a metalmind or swallowed gold flakes isn't important to my question. Though that line of thought does lead me to another question- could you burn a metalmind to get the ordinary effect of the metal, as well as an enhanced version of its Feruchimical effect, or would it only be good for Compounding? Obviously it doesn't work that way automatically, or Miles would be followed around by his gold shadow all the time, but would it be possible?

Edited December 8, 2011 by MasterGhandalf

[Catalyst21 he/him]

I think the bigger question is "did he burn it while still Compounding"- whether he used a metalmind or swallowed gold flakes isn't important to my question. Though that line of thought does lead me to another question- could you burn a metalmind to get the ordinary effect of the metal, as well as an enhanced version of its Feruchimical effect, or would it only be good for Compounding? Obviously it doesn't work that way automatically, or Miles would be followed around by his gold shadow all the time, but would it be possible?

source = http://www.openthefridge.net/blog/2011/11/18/interview-author-brandon-sanderson.html

People ask about getting the power from metals and things, but that’s not actually how it works. The power’s not coming from metal. I talked a little about this before, but you are drawing power from some source, and the metal is actually just a gateway. It’s actually the molecular structure of the metal… what’s going on there, the pattern, the resonance of that metal works in the same way as an Aon does in Elantris. It filters the power. So it is just a sign of “this is what power this energy is going to be shaped into and give you.” When you understand that, compounding [in Alloy of Law] makes much more sense.

Compounding is where you are able to kind of draw in more power than you should with feruchemy. What’s going on there is you’re actually charging a piece of metal, and then you are burning that metal as a feruchemical charge. What is happening is that the feruchemical charge overwrites the allomantic charge, and so you actually fuel feruchemy with allomancy, is what you are doing. Then if you just get out another piece of metal and store it in, since you’re not drawing the power from yourself, you’re cheating the system, you’re short-circuiting the system a little bit. So you can actually use the power that usually fuels allomancy, to fuel feruchemy, which you can then store in a metalmind, and basically build up these huge reservoirs of it. So what’s going on there is… imagine there’s like, an imprint, a wavelength, so to speak. A beat for an allomantic thing, that when you burn a metal, it says “ok, this is what power we give.” When it’s got that charge, it changes that beat and says, “now we get this power.” And you access a set of feruchemical power. That’s why compounding is so powerful.

So the way I read that is no, you cannot burn a feruchemical charged metal and get a allomantic charge (or both charges) out of it because "the feruchemical charge overwrites the allomantic charge"

To relate this to AoL, Miles burned UNCHARGED gold to use his auger ability. He could also burn charged gold at the same time for his bloodmaker ability, because allomantically it is, for all intents and purposes, a different metal.

[MasterGhandalf]

Makes sense. Thanks for the interview quote!

[Haven]

So the way I read that is no, you cannot burn a feruchemical charged metal and get a allomantic charge (or both charges) out of it because "the feruchemical charge overwrites the allomantic charge"

To relate this to AoL, Miles burned UNCHARGED gold to use his auger ability. He could also burn charged gold at the same time for his bloodmaker ability, because allomantically it is, for all intents and purposes, a different metal.

It wouldn't even need to be burning a different metal. When he burns charged god Miles gets a massive influx of health, he then drains it away into his numerous goldminds. His massive bloodmaker abilities are just him drawing the power from his imbedded goldminds constantly. So most of the time the gold in his stomach can be uncharged it's only once in a blue moon does he need to filter some of his massive health into a burnable goldmind and "top off" his reserves.

[Catalyst21 he/him]

It wouldn't even need to be burning a different metal. When he burns charged god Miles gets a massive influx of health, he then drains it away into his numerous goldminds. His massive bloodmaker abilities are just him drawing the power from his imbedded goldminds constantly. So most of the time the gold in his stomach can be uncharged it's only once in a blue moon does he need to filter some of his massive health into a burnable goldmind and "top off" his reserves.

If you reread what I wrote, charged gold is functionally different from uncharged gold, therefore it even though physically it is the same metal (gold) it is functionally different.

Miles puffed on his cigar, thoughtful. As always, he was drawing upon his goldmind

So yes, he is constantly tapping health, instead of burning it for his day-to-day use.

The man reached up and ripped off his mask, revealing a hawk-like face with short black hair and prominent eyebrows. It was him. Miles. A lawkeeper, a man who should have known better. A Twinborn Compounder of awesome power. His eye grew back, and the head wound was gone in an eyeblink. Golden metal glimmered on his arms, deep within the sleeves. His metalminds; they were spikes he wore driven through the skin of his lower arm, like bolts. Metal that pierced skin was extremely difficult to touch with Steelpushing

Again, this implies he is tapping instead of burning to heal his injury.

Change didn t scare Miles. Change was an opportunity, a chance to become something you were not. No Augur was bothered by change.

Augur. He usually ignored that side of himself. His Feruchemy was what kept him alive and these days he hardly noticed even that, save for the faint sense of extra energy to every step he took. He never got headaches, never felt tired, never had sore muscles, never dealt with colds or pain.

....

He turned, studying his domain, such as it was. Thieves, murderers, and braggarts. He took a deep breath, then burned gold.

...

Either way, he liked to think that burning his gold on occasion helped him—that each time he did it, it let him take the best of what he had been and mix it with the best of what he could be. An alloy of himself, then.

It disturbed him how much the two people he became hated each other. He could almost feel it like an oven’s heat, radiating from coal and stone

These series of quotes first state that he typically ignores the non-charged gold allomancy, then later says that burning non-charged gold help him.

It is interesting to note the effects of double gold compounding as applies to the law of diminishing returns as applied to feruchemical "flooding / funneling / over-tap" if his healing from 'critical' injuries is from tapping.