Could you use heat storing in Feruchemy in different ways?

[Deejaypenguin]

I'm listening to Mistborn again, both Era 1 and 2, and was thinking of other ways Feruchemy could be used. One specific instance would be using a brass metalmind to store heat, and then tap it several times over, and burning others that you touch. I imagine that the user would not be affected because of the way that we see Wax use his feruchemy, with his bones reinforcing to support the extra weight( or something along those lines), and the heat wouldn't be strictly internal because we see pewter Ferrings physically grow muscle. Would this or something on the other end of the spectrum be possible, drawing heat from yourself so fast you could inflict frostbite or freeze the target?

[alder24]

7 hours ago, Deejaypenguin said:

I'm listening to Mistborn again, both Era 1 and 2, and was thinking of other ways Feruchemy could be used. One specific instance would be using a brass metalmind to store heat, and then tap it several times over, and burning others that you touch. I imagine that the user would not be affected because of the way that we see Wax use his feruchemy, with his bones reinforcing to support the extra weight( or something along those lines), and the heat wouldn't be strictly internal because we see pewter Ferrings physically grow muscle. Would this or something on the other end of the spectrum be possible, drawing heat from yourself so fast you could inflict frostbite or freeze the target?

Yes, this is possible. You can either tap so much heat that you will burn people with your touch, or store it to create frostbites on others. You're right that a Firesoul would be mostly immune to the effects of increasing or decreasing their temperature - Feruchemy protects them from that - but there are still some limits. It's possible to store/tap too much heat and hurt yourself in the process, but this is really hard to do, even if you're a  brass compounder. This protection seems to be more internal than external - if you want to walk through fire, you should store heat, not tap it. Becoming hotter won't be as helpful as storing heat that is transferred to you by fire (but we don't know if becoming as hot as fire would prevent you from being harmed, it seems reasonable to assume this would happen). 

One risk which is clear is tapping so much heat that you will melt your brassminds (~930 degrees C), or even much earlier when your clothes would self-ignite (for cotton it's between 200-400 degrees C). Both of those things might harm you, molten brass will for sure harm you and it will most likely prevent you from using your brassmind (while you theoretically can store attributes in molten metals, it will have some effect on investiture, so I imagine it will not end well even for a Firesoul).

However there are low limits in Feruchemy, there is only so much attribute you're allowed to store. We don't know what those limits are in the case of brassminds, but they should prevent you from storing too much heat which would harm you. You most definitely can't store all your heat at once and lower your temperature to the absolute 0K, that's for sure.

Spoiler

Thoughtful Spurts

If tapping heat means your own body gets hotter, does it also mean you become immune to hot temperatures so long as you're tapping it, or should you fill heat and grow colder for that to happen?

Brandon Sanderson

As everything in Feruchemy, you become immune to the effects of the ability only. Like weight doesn't crush you, but at the same time doesn't have a net gain in strength. Growing colder, however, would be more helpful in this regard.

17th Shard Forum Q&A (Sept. 26, 2012)

 

Spoiler

Questioner

If Feruchemists can store warmth, and you can Compound if you have the dual... Could they harm themselves by drawing too much warmth?

Brandon Sanderson

Could they draw it out of their body and therefore kill themselves by freezing themselves?

Questioner

Either way. Either that, or burn and Compound too much...

Brandon Sanderson

This is harder to do that you think it [is], because built into Feruchemy is the natural body's resistance to the things you're doing, but it is possible.

Calamity Austin signing (Feb. 25, 2016)

 

Spoiler

Nethseäar

Can you burn or Feruchemically fill molten metal? Assuming, you know, that was something you wanted to do.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, you should be able to but that would be very nasty.

Nethseäar

Would it affect the Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, it would affect the Investiture.

Shadows of Self release party (Oct. 5, 2015)

 

If you also have access to healing, you can extend the upper limits of brass Feruchemy and heal yourself from any self-inflicted damage. On the very hypothetical end of the spectrum, providing infinite investiture, a Fullborn can tap so much heat and mass that he will become a star - however in this hypothetical scenario infinite healing is a must, otherwise he would die waaaay earlier.

Still, this suggests that you might be able to tap heat even from molten brassmind and reach much higher temperatures, as long as you have enough healing (a huge amount of healing I must add). But unless you want to melt steel with your bare hands, there is no need for you to go anywhere near brass-melting temperatures. Burns can be caused by just 44 degrees C, 70 degrees C will be immediately destructive to tissue. Stick with those temperatures and save your dignity and clothes.

Spoiler

Questioner

If a Full Twinborn (regardless of natural or holding the Bands of Mourning) had access to unlimited Investiture, could they become the sun by infinitely increasing their gravity and heat?

Brotherwise Games

Infinite Investiture, you’re theorizing?

Questioner

Dalinar’s next to him.

Brandon Sanderson

Dalinar’s not gonna be able to provide enough. But in a thought experiment, sort of outside bounds of time and space… you are providing infinite Investiture, you are providing an infinite amount of healing, and you are having them create heat and weight? The problem is, you’re gonna need a whole lot of mass to turn into the sun. I mean, there is a way you can do this, but you’re gonna have to provide… Either the Investiture’s gonna have to become mass, or you’re gonna have to have them do it in the proximity of a whole bunch of mass to have to start causing that sort of fusion reaction where the different layers collapsing in toward the center, dense layers, that sort of thing. In the realm of complete hypothesis, then yes. But, of course, you an do that here with infinite energy and infinite mass, if you needed to, using mechanical means.

I guess the weird part of that question is: the person could retain consciousness through infinite healing, and that is the weird part and that is possible. Yeah.

Dragonsteel 2022 (Nov. 14, 2022)

 

[TheSurvivorofDeath]

You could maybe burn someone if you had enough stored heat and tapped it fast enough, but it probably wouldn’t be that efficient. As for frostbite I believe storing that much heat that quickly would probably kill you. There aren’t that many crazy things you can do, even if you have compounding. Burning people would be made easier if you could compound, but I can’t think of any super interesting things can be done with brass in particular.