Metal Bearers

[Trusk'our he/him]

As Scadrial progresses, mechanical Investiture seems like it will out pace traditional, genetically gifted Investiture. 

This has made me wonder, the current term for a user of the Metallic Arts is "Metalborn", as you're born with it.

The Set used "Metal Blessed" in TLM, but that's seems to reflect it as being a blessing from Autonomy (technically, as we all know it's from Ruin, but they probably don't see it that way).

Would "Metal Bearers", those with access to high grade Unsealed or Awakened Metalminds, become the new popular term in the future, perhaps even overwriting the old term when referring to Allomancers or Feruchemists?

Edited July 27, 2024 by Trusk'our

[Treamayne]

25 minutes ago, Trusk'our said:

Would "Metal Bearers", those with access to high grade Unsealed or Awakened Metalminds

My guess. . . unlikely. Afterall, we don't call an Apple user an iBearer (or iZombie). A person with a 3D Printer is not a "PlastiFormer" (or some other reference to making an object out of whatever those printers use if not a form of plastic).

Technology is technology - when it gets to that level the individual tools might have names, but a collective noun for people making use of those tools seems a bit redundant.

TSM Spoilers:

Spoiler

Not to mention that the TimeTellers on Canticle did not use or imply any similar terms despite using what are impled to be multiple MetalTech items - but did genercize Radiance to "Oathed". 

 

[alder24]

12 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

As Scadrial progresses, mechanical Investiture seems like it will out pace traditional, genetically gifted Investiture. 

This has made me wonder, the current term for a user of the Metallic Arts is "Metalborn", as you're born with it.

The Set used "Metal Blessed" in TLM, but that's seems to reflect it as being a blessing from Autonomy (technically, as we all know it's from Ruin, but they probably don't see it that way).

Would "Metal Bearers", those with access to high grade Unsealed or Awakened Metalminds, become the new popular term in the future, perhaps even overwriting the old term when referring to Allomancers or Feruchemists?

Eland was a Mistborn, even though he wasn't born with this power. I doubt this term will be replaced, it will simply have a wider definition. Theoretically, everyone on Scadrial is a Metalborn because everyone has a tiny potential from Preservation's fragment in their soul. 

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

it makes me really wonder about the place of Metalborn in Scadrian society as the powers themselves get democratized and spread through MetalTech

I wonder if their society will go the route of ignoring metalborn sDNA because they don't "need it" anymore OR if it will go the other route where all people are tested for Metalborn sDNA so they can help continue to fuel/test the creation of new MetalTech

[Duxredux he/him]

On 7/28/2024 at 5:45 AM, alder24 said:

Eland was a Mistborn, even though he wasn't born with this power. I doubt this term will be replaced, it will simply have a wider definition. 

While this is true, I highly doubt that the truth would have been publicized or even discussed outside of the main circle around the emperor. Rather I would guess that it would have been utilized as further fuel and "evidence" that Elend was adopting the mantle of the Survivor after his near death in the bowels of Kredik Shaw. Telling the populace that he ate a piece of metal and became Mistborn would have all sorts of implications.

I agree with the idea though, and the fact that Spook was made Mistborn during the Catacendre and became known as the Lord Mistborn in conjunction with Sazed giving them the Words of Founding probably means that term is going to stick.

 

That said, Era 1 and Era 2 Scadrians didn't seem particularly precise about their terminology. Wax described Vindication as having an "Allomancer-only" safety which is a rather broad term for something that only 2 of 16 Allomantic powers can interact with. Lurcher/Coinshot safety would have been more descriptive. The Set with their experimentation with broad Hemalurgic usage had good reason to make a distinction between the donor and recipient of powers. Hemalurgist may also have been an incomplete term if it was simply referring to the people who implanted the spikes who may not have been spiked themselves. In the end though, I'm not sure if Metal Blessed would persist to later Eras, what with the Set being a secret organization.

In the end... I think it will depend on a few factors depending on what knowledge and practices becomes commonplace and how much mysticism persists around the Scadrian Invested Arts. Era 1 Skaa thought Allomancy was a myth, Era 2 Scadrian Arcanists are just now doing tests for things like "what happens if you burn Cadmium and Bendalloy simultaneously" and there wasn't a use for a term for a tech-granted magic user though there is secrets around the Feruchemist enclave. The nomenclature of such things is dependent on what important distinctions are made by the different classifications and how people think about those differences. For example, it wouldn't surprise me if law enforcement had distinct terms for someone armed with an Unsealed Metalmind, a Hemalurgist, and a natural Metalborn because disarmament and holding procedures changes for each type of person. For an ordinary person with a medallion, you just confiscate the medallion and toss them into a regular cell. For Hemalurgists, the metal and location of the spike should allow a sufficiently educated officer to at least narrow down the probable powers and identify proper holding procedure if the spike can't be non-fatally removed. Hemalurgist funerary practices will have important implications as well. I mean, sure, you can plate the whole facility in Aluminum, but that adds cost and removes the option to have a Seeker monitoring the facility. That said, they might just use the terms I just gave - normal person with Unsealed metalmind, Hemalurgist, and Metalborn.

So... I think there's a good chance that we'll get more terms than just Metalborn, but no idea which term will stick. As 17th Sharders, we're used to thinking of the 32 powers in their own right and have developed our own short hand with F-Zinc or A-Steel, but the common Scadrian might not bother memorizing the Metallic Arts tables (see Wayne boasting about knowing the proper names for all Twinborn combinations). The prevalence of Hemalurgy may also affect how openly people indicate that they are a natural Metalborn and thus valid Hemalurgic material. On the flip side, if Metalborn have their powers boosted by holding a Medallion granting their birth power in the same way that an A-Steel Hemalurgic spike boosts a Coinshot, then there will be very good reason to mark those naturally holding powers as special.