Will Hemulargy be wide spread in the third Era.

[ruler of the mists He/His/the survivor of the pit]

unlike in the 2 era where it was a taboo to be a Hemulargist

 

Edited November 10, 2024 by ruler of the mists

[+Lewis Nethur He/Him]

42 minutes ago, ruler of the mists said:

unlike in the 2 era where it was a taboo to be a Hemulargist

 

I suspect that it will always be taboo to be a hemalurgist since, for all practical purposes, it is roughly equivalent to walking around in public carrying a sign declaring oneself to be (or be best good friends with) a raging serial killer with a chosen type.

That said...real life humans have gotten around this problem many times historically...

The processes for executing livestock for food production are taboo. The process for making sausage is commonly regarded as extremely profane (one grinds up animal parts and then inject them inside their own intestine tissue...) . MANY forensic science techniques which are upheld by the most powerful courts in the world are completely indistinguishable from literal witchcraft to all but the most esoterically versed. And the simple process of just maintaining a nuclear arsenal is essentially a formal declaration that a state is ready, willing, and able to harm innocent if provoked or made upset, as such weapons are primarily for killing civillians...

The solution? There will simply have to be a procedural step between the person leveraging a Hemalurgic spike and the spike itself...like the medallions, for example. This will allow people to pretend to forget that their power comes from ritualistic sacrifice.

Edited November 10, 2024 by Lewis Nethur

[Trusk'our he/him]

2 hours ago, ruler of the mists said:

unlike in the 2 era where it was a taboo to be a Hemulargist

We don't have clear confirmation, as far as I'm aware.

However, if Hemalurgy was to become more commonly known, the secret would have to leak from one of the sources that currently possesses it.

Harmony, Marsh, and Kelsier are all quite aware of its functions, and Kelsier specifically has spent time considering using it for more widespread powers amongst the population. 

The Basin's government I think is likely to know about it due to Marasi, though probably only those highest up on the chain.

I think if Hemalurgy is going to become widespread knowledge on Scadrial, it's most likely to happen because the Ghostbloods start utilizing it and the Basin starts catching onto the murders and trying to stop them, possibly escalating the situation until the beans get spilled to some source that isn't able or willing to keep the secret. 

Alternatively, the Basin could try innovating with Hemalurgy to provide an edge in the cold war with the south, which could also lead to the secret getting out.

There are others potentially capable of figuring out Hemalurgy, such as Koloss experimenting with creating new iron spikes, a rogue Kandra, or the descendant of an obligator who managed to weasel out the secrets of the Inquisitors and passed them down, but I think these are less likely. 

But if we're talking about it becoming widely accepted, then no, probably not, at least not immediately. I think a major change in the culture would be needed in order to see it as okay, though given the great power it can lend to people this might actually be not too difficult. 

Edited November 10, 2024 by Trusk'our

[Returned he/him]

It will definitely be widespread, or at least that is my prediction.

Hemalurgy a matter of knowledge and very basic supplies. The latter really can't be restricted while the former would be hard to root out and could always be rediscovered. And since the result of Hemalurgy is power for the user I imagine we will see a lot of power-hungry people and groups making use of it. And when some people are using Hemalurgy to get an edge, potential opponents will have a pretty strong incentive to use it themselves. Especially when a Hemalurgic spike is portable and reusable, meaning that you can separate the rewards for Hemalurgy from the work involved in getting those rewards.

I doubt we'll see everyday people spiking themselves all the time (though some certainly will), with most preferring something like the medallions as pointed out by @Lewis Nethur. But the medallions don't seem to be less Hemalurgic than spikes, and even if the medallions didn't exist I suspect that a lot of people would use them whether there is a taboo surrounding it or not. Access to Allomancy and Feruchemy is too useful and too flexible for people, collectively, to decline in practice.

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

It will probably be more well known, after all the corpses of high-ranking Set members tend to have Spikes in them, which would lead to interesting questions during an autopsy. Plus there have been notable cases where a person has been witnessed as having multiple Allomantic powers, like Dumad showing off Steel and Duralumin in front of a bunch of Constables.

I do believe that we'll be seeing many more people make use of it thanks to all the leaks around it nowadays, even Jak has wrote about it with the Koloss, and he is very popular so a bare basic understanding of Hemalurgy's existence is already known to all of his fans and to most scholars who would research the Koloss.

I, for one, believe that it could be an interesting strategy on Autonomy's part if, instead of concealing secrets like she did in Era 2, she spends Era 3 revealing secrets to Scadrial, like publicly exposing the workings of Hemalurgy for anyone to find, in the hopes that the reveal of so many secrets will have Scadrians tear themselves apart from the inside.

It would be an interesting subversion, instead of our Era 3 protagonists searching for truth, they have to endure the effects that truth will have on their society or something.

[Trusk'our he/him]

2 hours ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

It will probably be more well known, after all the corpses of high-ranking Set members tend to have Spikes in them, which would lead to interesting questions during an autopsy. Plus there have been notable cases where a person has been witnessed as having multiple Allomantic powers, like Dumad showing off Steel and Duralumin in front of a bunch of Constables.

I do believe that we'll be seeing many more people make use of it thanks to all the leaks around it nowadays, even Jak has wrote about it with the Koloss, and he is very popular so a bare basic understanding of Hemalurgy's existence is already known to all of his fans and to most scholars who would research the Koloss.

Huh, I hadn’t thought of those, but I guess there are already some examples of Hemalurgy leaks then.

Even with knowledge of the spikes granting power, it doesn't necessarily mean most people will make the unintuitive leap of Investing new spikes. So, perhaps there could be lots of spike recycling amongst those with the right connections, but much less creating of new spikes.

Edited November 13, 2024 by Trusk'our