Why didn't Nomad use Hemalurgy

[Hmmm lies she/her]

So Nomad seems to have wanted to rid himself of his Torment for years. So I was wondering, since you can nonlethally spike someone now, why didn't he just use a nicrosil spike, since both sunhearts and nicrosil spikes seem to have the ability to remove Investiture?

[Elite01]

Could be about how just like how his Torment prevents him from hurting others it could stop the user from hurting themselves as well. We see in the book that he can trick his Torment based off his intent so there could be a workaround if he thought spiking himself wouldn't be causing harm. 

 

Could be he also doesn't know the bind point or metal needed to spike away something like that. 

Edited November 28, 2023 by Elite01

[alder24]

42 minutes ago, Hmmm lies said:

So Nomad seems to have wanted to rid himself of his Torment for years. So I was wondering, since you can nonlethally spike someone now, why didn't he just use a nicrosil spike, since both sunhearts and nicrosil spikes seem to have the ability to remove Investiture?

First his Torment would prevent this. Secondly it shreds your soul to pieces, even if you can survive it, the damage done to you is huge, and it takes more than you want. Thirdly, this "hole" in your soul allows Shards and other invested beings and arts to affect you directly, it makes you susceptible to all forms of investiture. Hemalurgy is just a bad idea.

Also I'm not sure if his Torment regrows. At first he had to keep touching the sphere which consumed investiture, but later I lost track of that sphere and if his Torment would regrow if not "stored".

[Guest]

Just because Nomad is aware that Hemalurgy is a thing dosen't mean he has all of the necessary desire/information/training/materials to perform it on himself.

He would, at the minimum, have to have:

1. The exact bind point(s) needed. Given how rare his condition is I doubt he could find this in a book.

2. The exact location of the bind point(s) on his body. Rosharan's are taller than normal, and could have other proportional changes, and this could cause a small amount of drift in their locations.

3. A Cadmium Spike, or a highly pure source of Cadmium, which he would then have to alloy with tin & other metals in the correct ratios. In theory he could buy one from a Scadrian, but they don't seem like a super friendly group looking to trade.   He also dosen't have much of anything to barter with.

 

He would also likely need someone to perform the Hemalurgy on him, unless the Bind Point happens to be somewhere easy to reach, and I would wager that the experience would be traumatic enough that he could temporarily lose consciousness and need to be cared for.  Unconscious, weakened, and at the mercy of someone with that level of Hemalurgic knowledge seems like a bad situation.

[alder24]

37 minutes ago, LabRat said:

3. A Cadmium Spike, or a highly pure source of Cadmium, which he would then have to alloy with tin & other metals in the correct ratios. In theory he could buy one from a Scadrian, but they don't seem like a super friendly group looking to trade.   He also dosen't have much of anything to barter with.

Cadmium? Alloyed with tin? Why? Cadmium steals Temporal Allomantic powers. He would need a nicrosil spike to steal part of his soul directly or duralumin to entirely remove his Connection to Dawnshard (that likely to be too much, it could be deadly but it would make him useless to the Night Brigade).

[Guest]

19 hours ago, alder24 said:

Cadmium? Alloyed with tin? Why? Cadmium steals Temporal Allomantic powers. He would need a nicrosil spike to steal part of his soul directly or duralumin to entirely remove his Connection to Dawnshard (that likely to be too much, it could be deadly but it would make him useless to the Night Brigade).

Nicrosil isn't an element, it's an alloy of Cadmium and Nickel, possibly plus other stuff since we don't have an in-book recipe.  In our world Nicrosil is mostly Tin, plus Cadmium, Silicon, and Magnesium

[alder24]

Just now, LabRat said:

Nicrosil isn't an element, it's an alloy of Cadmium and Nickel, possibly plus other stuff since we don't have an in-book recipe.  In our world Nicrosil is mostly Tin, plus Cadmium, Silicon, and Magnesium

Chromium not cadmium. It's a paired alloy of chromium in Metallic Arts. "Nicrosil is a nickel alloy containing about 14.4% chromium, 1.4% silicon, and (in some sources) 0.1% magnesium." -Wikipedia.

And what would Nomad do with raw nickel, chromium and other elements? Nothing, he doesn't have any forge in his pocket. It's easier to get proper nicrosil than play with alloying. Base 16 metals aren't used only by Scadrians, they have Cosmere wide importance. They have effect on investiture, they are used on Roshar in Fabrial tech, on Lumar and in other places. It's not just Scadrial.

[Guest]

On 11/30/2023 at 8:16 AM, alder24 said:

Chromium not cadmium.

Dang, I managed to read 3 articles wrong on at least 2 separate occasions. Rest of my point stands IMO

[Aetherbound he/him]

He also might not have the time, since he has to run from the night brigade.