nikomis he/him Posted January 23, 2012 Report Share Posted January 23, 2012 After reading Alloy of Law and reading about the Aluminum (and alloy) bullets, I started thinking that perhaps Aluminum Gnats were no longer the worst thing ever. Sure they don't have a handy-dandy always useful thing but...they're now your bullet disposal. No more evidence! HERE, GNAT, EAT THIS BULLET AND BURN IT. I mean, it's much better than just leaving your evidence around, and even a Mistborn would hesitate (as it would kill their metal-stock). Of course, that's assuming the bullets in question are pure aluminum. I doubt it would work for alloy bullets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayonn Posted January 23, 2012 Report Share Posted January 23, 2012 If you're going to the trouble of recovering the bullets, you might as well melt them down for the valuable aluminum. But it's an interesting idea--sort of like feruchemists getting an advantage from storing attributes. I wonder: if an aluminum gnat swallows an allomantic metal other than aluminum, can they destroy it by burning aluminum even though it's not something they could burn? Can they destroy non-allomantic metals? I'm guessing yes to the first, no to the second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikomis he/him Posted January 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2012 I was thinking more of a quick "ditch the evidence" route. But you're right, recovery would be more valuable. I think aluminum gnats can purge-burn other metals, yes, but there's no point to them swallowing them. I guess it would prevent exposure to tainted metals, or unburnables sitting there as toxin. (Easier to burn a flake of aluminum than to force yourself to vomit.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironeyes he/him Posted January 24, 2012 Report Share Posted January 24, 2012 Brandon said that burning aluminum doesn't destroy a mistborn's other metals, it just keeps the allomancer from feeling them by cutting off his/her access to Preservation. So it doesn't affect the metal itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOM1else he/him Posted January 24, 2012 Report Share Posted January 24, 2012 Could Gnats be useful in an economic standpoint by burning Aluminum when it is in high supply to create artificial shortages and raise metal prices? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ulyssessword he/him Posted January 24, 2012 Report Share Posted January 24, 2012 Could Gnats be useful in an economic standpoint by burning Aluminum when it is in high supply to create artificial shortages and raise metal prices? The same effect could be achieved by simply burying/hiding it, so I don't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikomis he/him Posted January 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2012 Brandon said that burning aluminum doesn't destroy a mistborn's other metals, it just keeps the allomancer from feeling them by cutting off his/her access to Preservation. So it doesn't affect the metal itself. Really? Because then wouldn't you end up feeling super sick after burning Aluminum, thanks to all that metal still stuck in your stomach that you can't burn? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Posted January 24, 2012 Report Share Posted January 24, 2012 Brandon said that burning aluminum doesn't destroy a mistborn's other metals, it just keeps the allomancer from feeling them by cutting off his/her access to Preservation. So it doesn't affect the metal itself. Hmm... Did he say how long this would last? It obviously isn't permanent, but Vin should have been able to feel her metals eventually when the Inquisitors made her burn it, as evidenced by her being able to burn metals immediately upon ingesting them later. It was only a few hours, unlikely to be enough time for them to go through entirely her system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aradel he/him Posted January 24, 2012 Report Share Posted January 24, 2012 Brandon said that burning aluminum doesn't destroy a mistborn's other metals, it just keeps the allomancer from feeling them by cutting off his/her access to Preservation. So it doesn't affect the metal itself. So it cuts the allomancer off from interacting with the metals they have ingested at the time they burn the aluminum, but any aditional reserves they gain shortly after are unaffected? Does gaining additional reserves 'reconnect' the allomancer to the reserves cut off by aluminum? Is aluminum a temporary effect so that metals gained immediatly after burning aluminum are 'disabled' as well, and can the allomancer 'reconnect' after a set period of time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacemonkey he/him Posted January 24, 2012 Report Share Posted January 24, 2012 So it cuts the allomancer off from interacting with the metals they have ingested at the time they burn the aluminum, but any aditional reserves they gain shortly after are unaffected? Does gaining additional reserves 'reconnect' the allomancer to the reserves cut off by aluminum? Is aluminum a temporary effect so that metals gained immediatly after burning aluminum are 'disabled' as well, and can the allomancer 'reconnect' after a set period of time? If it cuts off their access to Preservation, they wouldn't be able to use Allomancy for the duration of the effect, although we don't know enough about aluminum in Mistborn to guess how long that might be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zas678 he/him Posted January 25, 2012 Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 Brandon said that burning aluminum doesn't destroy a mistborn's other metals, it just keeps the allomancer from feeling them by cutting off his/her access to Preservation. So it doesn't affect the metal itself. Whaaaa? Where did he say this? Was this a question that you asked, or did you read it in a report? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikomis he/him Posted January 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 Whaaaa? Where did he say this? Was this a question that you asked, or did you read it in a report? I would also like to know this, because it's messing with my memories of the scene where Vin is forced to take Aluminum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironeyes he/him Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 It's in the annotations somewhere. HoA, I think. I'll check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBobs he/him Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 Hmmm I don't remember this being in the annotations. Maybe . . . burning aluminum makes the other metals allomatically inert and undetectable? But that's just a guess. I would think that aluminum would make the metals actually burn away and vanish because of how duralumin being used is described. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Spoonface he/him Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 I would think that aluminum would make the metals actually burn away and vanish because of how duralumin being used is described. To me, at least, that makes more sense. Unless: Duralumin enhances the ability of the metals to connect with Preservation, but uses up their ability to connect with it doing so... I still think it makes more sense for the metals to actually be consumed through burning, because just having a lump of indigestible, partially toxic metals in your stomach seems problematic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironeyes he/him Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 To me, at least, that makes more sense. Unless: Duralumin enhances the ability of the metals to connect with Preservation, but uses up their ability to connect with it doing so... I think that's exactly how duralumin works. (still can't find the quote... I'll keep looking) I still think it makes more sense for the metals to actually be consumed through burning, because just having a lump of indigestible, partially toxic metals in your stomach seems problematic. Metal poisoning wouldn't be a problem, because none of the metals are dangerous enough to hurt you unless you burn aluminum on a regular basis. The only one we know contains a poisonous metal is pewter, and the amount of lead in it is not enough to hurt you short term. And they'd still be digestible because allomancers swallow their metals as dust or flakes. The metal would just pass through the digestive system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROSHtafARian Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 Plus there's always the possibility that when Preservation created sentient life on Scadrial, he did so with Allomancy in mind......its possible that humans on Scadrial aren't as susceptible to metal poisoning in general, compared to real life humans or even humans on other worlds. As for the comment about aluminum working by dampening access to Preservation and rendering other metals inert....that's very interesting. Is there any possibility that studying this phenomenon and a greater scientific understanding of it in the later two Mistborn trilogies might lead to some kind of Shielding affect like in Wheel of Time....somehow being used to cut others than just the Aluminum Gnat off from Preservation's power, even though its currently a strictly internalized power? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ulyssessword he/him Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 Metal poisoning wouldn't be a problem, because none of the metals are dangerous enough to hurt you unless you burn aluminum on a regular basis. The only one we know contains a poisonous metal is pewter, and the amount of lead in it is not enough to hurt you short term. And they'd still be digestible because allomancers swallow their metals as dust or flakes. The metal would just pass through the digestive system. Most metals are poisonous to some extent, including iron, copper, zinc, cadmium, and (some) chromium, but not tin, gold, or aluminum. I didn't look into the alloys or their contained metals. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironeyes he/him Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 As for the comment about aluminum working by dampening access to Preservation and rendering other metals inert....that's very interesting. Is there any possibility that studying this phenomenon and a greater scientific understanding of it in the later two Mistborn trilogies might lead to some kind of Shielding affect like in Wheel of Time....somehow being used to cut others than just the Aluminum Gnat off from Preservation's power, even though its currently a strictly internalized power? That's what chromium does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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