Tamriel Wolfsbaine Posted July 16, 2023 Posted July 16, 2023 In Era 2 we see lots of twinborn, ferrings and mistings. But how do they know they have their powers? Does each person get handed a vial of potentially toxic metals and told to drink and burn? Do they all take turns touching metalminds and attempting to store into them? I actually really liked the way snapping works but we don't see it the same now. How young can a person know if they have powers? Is Wax certain that Max has no powers already at his young age or do they have to wait longer to test?
alder24 Posted July 16, 2023 Posted July 16, 2023 26 minutes ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said: In Era 2 we see lots of twinborn, ferrings and mistings. But how do they know they have their powers? Does each person get handed a vial of potentially toxic metals and told to drink and burn? Do they all take turns touching metalminds and attempting to store into them? I actually really liked the way snapping works but we don't see it the same now. How young can a person know if they have powers? Is Wax certain that Max has no powers already at his young age or do they have to wait longer to test? We don't know any of this. We don't know how snappings works now - almost nothing is known to us except that Harmony changed it because he didn't like how brutal it was. But it's likely happening at some specific age, after which kids parents likely give them a vial of metal, with traces amounts of metals there, and test them for Allomancy. With Feruchemy they likely do the same, making them try to store in every metal. It might be even done in medical centers, as a standard procedure, or paid one. That's the simplest explanation in my opinion. Toxicity of metals isn't a problem after a small, singulair dose or can be negated with vomiting or some laxatives. We don't know at what age they snap or know about their powers. Wayne was aware of his abilities by the time he was sixteen. Wax knew of them by the time he was in the Village at the age of 15, but at the bank flashback, when he was 12, nothing was said about his powers, as well there was no mention of Wayne's power in TLM prologue (possibly less than 10 years old). Max as a 5 year old is very likely too young for him to get snapped. Snapping likely happens when people enter their teenage years.
Tamriel Wolfsbaine Posted July 16, 2023 Author Posted July 16, 2023 19 minutes ago, alder24 said: We don't know any of this. We don't know how snappings works now - almost nothing is known to us except that Harmony changed it because he didn't like how brutal it was. But it's likely happening at some specific age, after which kids parents likely give them a vial of metal, with traces amounts of metals there, and test them for Allomancy. With Feruchemy they likely do the same, making them try to store in every metal. It might be even done in medical centers, as a standard procedure, or paid one. That's the simplest explanation in my opinion. Toxicity of metals isn't a problem after a small, singulair dose or can be negated with vomiting or some laxatives. We don't know at what age they snap or know about their powers. Wayne was aware of his abilities by the time he was sixteen. Wax knew of them by the time he was in the Village at the age of 15, but at the bank flashback, when he was 12, nothing was said about his powers, as well there was no mention of Wayne's power in TLM prologue (possibly less than 10 years old). Max as a 5 year old is very likely too young for him to get snapped. Snapping likely happens when people enter their teenage years. Thanks for the reply. Teen years makes a lot of sense to me.
The Stormfather He/Him Posted July 16, 2023 Posted July 16, 2023 I think, like Vin, for allomancy after they snapped they would sense the sort of reserve inside of them.
Duxredux he/him Posted July 17, 2023 Posted July 17, 2023 Yeah... puberty could be consider traumatic enough to cause someone to Snap. It wouldn't surprise me if there are private companies that for a fee will check for metalborn. A Seeker and a Coinshot that have a sample of the different metals, some to act as metalminds and some to fuel allomancy, the Seeker to detect Allomancy of course and the Coinshot to detect if a metal sample becomes harder to push. I'm guessing if not in era 2 then in later eras there would be political factions, one pushing to make metalborn abilities a matter of public record as a matter of regulating Soothers, Rioters, Coinshots, Steelrunners, etc. another faction pushing to conceal metalborn abilities to protect individuals from the Hemalurgic black market. This is why I'm unsure if discovering metalborn will be a matter of governmental regulation or if it will be in the private sector. Powerful noble families with strong genetics will probably keep the the testers solely within the family and may train a child to give a false negative on any metalborn test. Era 1, I imagine the Steel Ministry would have Seekers on call to test for Allomancy, regardless on if it was requested or not, and the Great Houses would test with their own Allomancers. We also know of some of the processes that the Inquisitors did to test for Atium Mistings, which should also extend to other metals. Spoiler Sporkify How did Inquisitors find Atium mistings? Brandon Sanderson They spike the drinks at one of the nobility's balls with trace amounts of Atium, then cause a bit disturbance. (Often, the Inquisitors themselves arriving will do it) and burn bronze and watch for brief pulses. The body will burn metals instinctively if it can, which has been shown quite often in the series. This is also how they get a lot of their secret information about who is a Misting and who isn't. It's not a perfect method, since you have to watch for Copperclouds messing things up, but it is effective once in a while. Any time an obligator who is not a Misting joins the Ministry, he is unknowingly given a larger chunk of atium and then forced into a series of rituals that will drain him physically and get the body to react and burn the metal. This was how Yomen was discovered. Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide (Oct. 15, 2008)
Treamayne Posted July 17, 2023 Posted July 17, 2023 On 7/16/2023 at 8:34 AM, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said: In Era 2 we see lots of twinborn, ferrings and mistings. But how do they know they have their powers? Does each person get handed a vial of potentially toxic metals and told to drink and burn? Do they all take turns touching metalminds and attempting to store into them? I actually really liked the way snapping works but we don't see it the same now. How young can a person know if they have powers? Is Wax certain that Max has no powers already at his young age or do they have to wait longer to test? WoBs on the topic: Spoiler Quote Storm Cellar We know Snapping is not the same in Mistborn Era 2. We know Wayne knew he was a slider, but could not afford bendalloy for his early life. How do the poor skaa know they can burn rare metals? Is there a ceremony, or a formal process of testing skaa for metal powers? (The assumption is that nobles can just give their children a mix of metals to see if any of them are reactive.) Brandon Sanderson There are lots of ways--remember that lots of groups are seeing Allomancy as valuable to them, and are actively recruiting. There's no formal process, at least not for everyone, though some houses do have them. But there are events, even at fairs and the like, where you can get a vial and see if you feel anything--in exchange for promises of service if you do turn out to have abilities. Beyond that, just like getting gold foil to put on food is not horribly expensive in our world, getting little bits of many of these metals is not THAT expensive. It may not give you enough power to do anything useful, but it can be enough to tell. Quote Oversleep Is it possible to Soothe/Riot so hard that the person Snaps due to extreme emotions caused by emotional Allomancy? Brandon Sanderson I hadn't considered, but yes, that should work. 1
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