Does F-Bendalloy Work Like a Coppermind?

[Steel Speedster ♂]

I hadn't really thought about it before, but this has always been my assumption about how F-bendalloy works. F-copper works differently from other Feruchemical metals, because you essentially just move an item (a memory) between your mind and the metalmind--when you store a memory in copper, the process is instantaneous, and the memory stays there until you remove it. Compare that to a normal metalmind, let's just say an ironmind, where you spend time storing weight, and once you stop, your weight goes back to normal. The main difference between these two is that F-iron retains a baseline for the attribute (i.e. your normal weight.) When storing you go below that weight and when you tap you go above, but whenever you aren't storing or tapping, you go back to that baseline.

I theorize that F-bendalloy works more like F-copper. To illustrate the differences between the two possible mechanics, I'll describe how each one would work in the same situation.

If F-bendalloy works like F-copper: The Subsumer eats a large meal, then stores a good portion of the nutrition in a bendalloymind. Storing is instant, and the Subsumer now has less nutrition from the meal. Later, the Subsumer taps, essentially moving all that nutrition back into their body, and it acts as though they had just eaten that food.

If F-bendalloy works like a normal metalmind: The Subsumer eats a large meal, then begins the process of storing nutrition. While storing, the Subsumer has less nutrition from the meal, but as soon as they stop storing, their nutrition goes back to normal. Later, the Subsumer taps. While tapping, the Subsumer gains nutrition, but as soon as they stop or the bendalloymind runs out, they go back to normal.

As you can see, the second possibility would be way less useful, because the effects are all temporary, whereas in the first option, the extra nutrition lasts until you store it again or it gets used up by the body.

These mechanics aren't exactly like a coppermind, mainly because F-bendalloy still stores a quantity of attribute whereas F-copper stores an individual unit. As another illustration, if F-iron worked like this, storing would reduce your weight permanently until you tapped that weight back, and it would be impossible to become heavier than normal. (This wouldn't be a problem for F-bendalloy, because your nutrition fluctuates wildly anyway, and you can get more by eating.)

I have 0 evidence to back this up (but of course we haven't even seen F-bendalloy used on screen yet, so that's to be expected.) Like I said, I've unconsciously assumed that F-bendalloy works like this. I do think this makes more sense than the alternative, but I wondered how other people understood this ability.

[Quantus he/him]

Partially?  It's really more like Tin, Id say.  Most metalminds just store a single bulk, scalable type of Investiture, with tapping and storing being a matter of Filling and Tapping Rates.  F-Nicrosil (Per WOB) and Copperminds move an individual something whole into the Metalmind and back again, with a more permanent storage/loss/recovery mechanism.  Bendalloy, Tin, and probably Duralumin, are a little of both: they store a Bulk, Scalable type of Investiture that uses the normal Storing/Tapping, but they have several options to select from which require separate Metalminds for each.  WOB says Wakefulness, for example, could store "real" rest or just a Caffiene Boost, but they'd feel different when tapped.

Going a little tinfoil, I suspect that most if not all Fermchemcy has some amount of the Options and more specific targets than the current Scadrians realize, and once they learn and can provide the right Intents, they'll be able to store more specific things than just generic bulk Strength or Speed or Health.  For example, I saw a really interesting theory that Electrum is actually storing Intent, but without them realizing that and being specific when they Store, it comes out as a slider between generic Depression (lowering of all Intents) and a Manic state (over-abundance of unDirected Intent).  

Edited September 5, 2024 by Quantus

[Trusk'our he/him]

@Speeding Steelrunner, yup, F-Bendalloy is more like copper than other Feruchemical powers. The Ars Arcanum talks about Bendalloy storing calories and liquids to be drawn out later.

You store something discrete, then draw it out later. Seems like cadmium and brass do the same, as you're not increasing the potential of an attribute, but actually siphoning off and later returning physical matter or energy.

Actually, it seems to me that Bendalloy, cadmium, and brass store from the Physical Realm instead of the spiritual because of this, not temporarily diverting Investiture from the Spiritweb (which snaps back into its previous state when you finish storing but before you tap) but instead converting physical matter to Investiture and back. Copper is similar, but with the Cognitive Realm. 

Edited September 5, 2024 by Trusk'our

[Treamayne]

Please keep in mind that we do not yet know conclusively if a Subsumer stores and taps from the Digetive System or the body. 

In your examples, the Subsumer is. presumably, storing from the digestive system (nutrition being converted by the gut is, instead, diverted to storage). However, it is possible (maybe even likely) that the storage comes from Fat and Protien Calories already in the body. 

White Sand Spoilers:

Spoiler

This would correlate to how Sand Mastery removes moisture from the entire body (with the Sand Master usually first feeling the effects of dehydration in their eyes as vitreous fluid loses moisture) and would match a Subsumer storing Hydration. A dehydrated Sand Master will metabolise water faster, but the bond does not seem to allow water still in the digestive track to be a valid source of Hydration. 

 

[Rorzikel]

It might pull glucose and water right out of your bloodstream.