Hemalurgic Decay and Kandra

[Vortaan]

We know that Hemalurgy charges decay when outside of a body. So, two questions:

1) What does this mean for kandra Blessings? Do they become less effective if they are removed and re-inserted at a later date? Would that change the sentience of the kandra in question?

2) Can a Hemalurgic spike with an Allomantic/Feruchemical charge be kept inside a kandra body to prevent decay indefinitely, or does it actually have to grant power to not decay further?

[Aethling]

Hmm. Interesting set of questions.

My understanding was that the LR delivered the new blessings to order when a new bunch of Kandra was ready to change. If that is so, there probably wasn't all that great a delay to allow for the decay. Haven't we only seen one example of the blessings being removed and hidden? They probably did lose some of their power, but the one that used them was double spiked anyway. It is possible that the Kandra just don't need the full power that a Inquisitor would due to them being fundamentally different.

I would say once it is inside their body, it becomes stable like ones in a human.

[king of nowhere]

the 1) is probably true. not sure how that affects the sentience of the kandra, but it would surely affect the blessings.

the 2) is intersting. there was a discussion on using hemalurgy in hospitals by having one allomantic gold spike and one feruchemical gold spike (both taken from volunteers), and planting them in the patients so they could heal by gold compounding. one problem of this was the decay of the spikes when they are outside of a body (you won't find many volunteers to be spiked, so you need to make those spikes last), but if they could be stored in a kandra it would be a pretty nice trick to bring back someone on the brink of death ion a matter of minutes.

[Windrunner]

I don't think just sticking a spike in anywhere you like would work. You need to hit a bindpoint in order to stop the decay. This could still work with a kandra, they have bindpoints like humans do (you can give kandra Allomancy after all). The best benefit about having a kandra hold onto these spikes is that you don't have to stab them with them, they can simply form their bodies around the spikes, like TenSoon does. It's not a practical solution though. There are only so many kandra left in the world, and Brandon's said Sazed doesn't want any more. Who even knows if there are any mistwraiths left after the Ascension? Rashek gave them that form to survive in a biome that no longer exists.

A better solution is one that was hinted at in the RPG. There are "very special preparations" that can be performed to stop a spike's decay.

[happyman]

Mistwraiths struck me as being remarkably versatile creatures. It's possible they didn't survive HoA, but I find that unlikely. It is also possible Sazed destroyed them while remarking the world, but that is also unlikely in my opinion. Best bet, they are running around wild somewhere.

[Windrunner]

I certainly hope so, they're too cool to go to waste. And considering that they're scavengers, there's always going to be a food source.

[Voidus]

I'm sure that in an interview Brandon said that when the Kandra all removed their blessings during the Final Ascension that they lost some memories from it so I'd guess that that was the sentience decay aspect of it.

[Vortaan]

I certainly hope so, they're too cool to go to waste. And considering that they're scavengers, there's always going to be a food source.

Wayne draws mistwraiths on Wax's drawing when he is planning out how to take out Miles. I would assume they are still around.

More interestingly, I thought kandra couldn't have Allomancy. You can give it to them with the right spike? That is... moderately terrifying.

[SirShemmington VI]

I don't think just sticking a spike in anywhere you like would work. You need to hit a bindpoint in order to stop the decay. This could still work with a kandra, they have bindpoints like humans do (you can give kandra Allomancy after all). The best benefit about having a kandra hold onto these spikes is that you don't have to stab them with them, they can simply form their bodies around the spikes, like TenSoon does. It's not a practical solution though. There are only so many kandra left in the world, and Brandon's said Sazed doesn't want any more. Who even knows if there are any mistwraiths left after the Ascension? Rashek gave them that form to survive in a biome that no longer exists.

A better solution is one that was hinted at in the RPG. There are "very special preparations" that can be performed to stop a spike's decay.

Couldnt the spikes just be left in people? you wouldnt need kandra, as the decay would be slow.

[Inkthinker]

I don't think you can insert a charged spike without it immediately having a hemalurgic effect on whomever it's spiked into.

It's not like Hemalurgy is exactly an "at will" power, the effects (I think) operate automatically, sometimes regardless of the will of the person being spiked (see koloss).

[name_here]

If the hemalurgic effect is giving people allomancy/feruchemy, that's not a huge problem. Though you clearly can stick a spike in someone without having a hemalurgic effect if you miss a bind point. I think that might slow decay somewhat compared to just leaving it sitting in the open, but I'm not sure.

That being said, hospitals could store their gold spikes in someone who is naturally a gold ferring. They could compound while the spikes are inserted and store those to non-spike metalminds to heal the wounds as soon as the spikes are removed. Get five or six of them and have them present on rotating shifts so the spikes never go unstored. Though personally, I'd advise taking advantage of hemalurgic spikes giving people access to metalminds filled by other users to not hand unbounded super-regeneration to random people off the street, instead having a trusted person make a warehouse full of charged metalminds keyed to spikes.

[king of nowhere]

That being said, hospitals could store their gold spikes in someone who is naturally a gold ferring. They could compound while the spikes are inserted and store those to non-spike metalminds to heal the wounds as soon as the spikes are removed. Get five or six of them and have them present on rotating shifts so the spikes never go unstored. Though personally, I'd advise taking advantage of hemalurgic spikes giving people access to metalminds filled by other users to not hand unbounded super-regeneration to random people off the street, instead having a trusted person make a warehouse full of charged metalminds keyed to spikes.

I suppose you meant a gold misting, so he could compound with a gold ferring spike; but anyway, that's the best formulatiion of the "hemalurgy for healing" idea so far.

[name_here]

No, I meant a gold ferring, with a feruchemical and an allomantic gold spike so he could compound and transfer the metalminds. A gold misting would lose the ability to tap the metalminds when the gold ferring spike was removed. It'd save a spike, but there would be a hole puncturing an artery where the spike is inserted that would require treatment. Granted, the spikes could be small and he would regenerate the blood loss once he got both of them back, but it's still less than ideal.