Kandra cartilage

[Stormgate he/him]

So, I know that kandra can't make bone, but can they make cartilage? For those unfamiliar with it, it's a biological material that provides rigidity while maintaining flexibility in certain parts of the body. It's in the tip of your nose and your ears, as well as a few places that I don't know right off the top of my head. I am guessing that cartilage decays fairly easily, more so than bone, so I'm guessing the kandra can make it themselves, but I'm not sure.

Fun fact: Sharks have no bones, just cartilage and teeth. If kandra can make it, then they only have to eat a shark once, then can shapeshift into a shark whenever they want. Actually, they could turn into a lot of things in the ocean, but most are very small. On that note, could a kandra eat something from the inside? They would have to go fast, maybe eating the tongue first and avoiding the stomach altogether, but could they? I'm having lots of thoughts about kandra possibilities, but I will restrain myself for now.

[Brightness Enna she/her]

I'm thinking cartilage yes - because don't kandra True Bodies have ears and noses and joint padding stuff? Also, when (spoiler for Mistborn)

TenSoon takes Kelsier's old bones (not corpse, mind you, just bones) and mimics him,

he has ears and a nose, though not hair.

 

However, I'm not sure about the plausibility of switching to sea creatures just whenever. I think that digesting an actual corpse gives kandra a sense for how it's built, and it would be very difficult to remember the whole structure of very many animals. In addition, many kandras seem to have an opposition to mimicking animals rather than humans, so... I don't know if they would be very up for that. Even TenSoon was a little against it at first. Maybe a worldhopping kandra on Roshar's coast would find that skill more useful.

 

On another note... Why doesn't a kandra just use one skeleton and only switch out skulls for when they wanted a different face? I get that different body types have different skeletons, but wouldn't it be easier and more convenient to only switch out a few bones at a time rather than whole skeletons, especially in AoL era? And are faces purely determined by skull structure, or is there more muscle and skin than I'm thinking?

[EdroGrimshell]

I'm thinking cartilage yes - because don't kandra True Bodies have ears and noses and joint padding stuff? Also, when (spoiler for Mistborn)

TenSoon takes Kelsier's old bones (not corpse, mind you, just bones) and mimics him,

he has ears and a nose, though not hair.

 

However, I'm not sure about the plausibility of switching to sea creatures just whenever. I think that digesting an actual corpse gives kandra a sense for how it's built, and it would be very difficult to remember the whole structure of very many animals. In addition, many kandras seem to have an opposition to mimicking animals rather than humans, so... I don't know if they would be very up for that. Even TenSoon was a little against it at first. Maybe a worldhopping kandra on Roshar's coast would find that skill more useful.

 

On another note... Why doesn't a kandra just use one skeleton and only switch out skulls for when they wanted a different face? I get that different body types have different skeletons, but wouldn't it be easier and more convenient to only switch out a few bones at a time rather than whole skeletons, especially in AoL era? And are faces purely determined by skull structure, or is there more muscle and skin than I'm thinking?

Wrong Kandra.

[Stormgate he/him]

Wrong Kandra.

One, I don't understand that post. Two, I am talking about possibility. With sea animals, it would make an interesting option that some kandra, TenSoon possibly foremost among them. I think Sanderson could have some fun with a kandra in an aquarium.

[Brightness Enna she/her]

Wrong Kandra.

Sort of... Though OreSeur does do that, TenSoon does, too, in HoA, and that's the occasion I was thinking of. 

 

One, I don't understand that post. Two, I am talking about possibility. With sea animals, it would make an interesting option that some kandra, TenSoon possibly foremost among them. I think Sanderson could have some fun with a kandra in an aquarium.

I could definitely see that. It does seem like it would require a kandra who has lots of skill, though. Would it be possible for a kandra to make a human with modified lungs to breathe underwater? Could they make a mermaid? ... That's assuming they could take different parts of skeletons and mesh the muscles together just right. That might be difficult.

 

*announcer gesturing to the aquarium*

"And here, we have a shark! Wait, now it's an octopus. ... And now a manta ray. MeLaan, cut that out!"

[Stormgate he/him]

I actually think octopi and stuff like that would be easier to make, if maybe more exotic.

[Brightness Enna she/her]

What are kandras' (? plural possessive) abilities regarding to insects? Can they shed muscle at will as well as gain it from a corpse? How about... Jellyfish? Worms? Corals? Butterflies?

 

I assume that there are some things that kandra cannot make that aren't specified, like bones and hair are. However, they can move muscle to become skin. I get that all they do is move muscle, but could, perhaps, a kandra make butterfly wings out of muscle? Somehow? There are lots of weird animals out there that don't exactly fit the normal kandra formula of "me + bones + hair = person".

[Charononus]

 

 

On another note... Why doesn't a kandra just use one skeleton and only switch out skulls for when they wanted a different face? I get that different body types have different skeletons, but wouldn't it be easier and more convenient to only switch out a few bones at a time rather than whole skeletons, especially in AoL era? And are faces purely determined by skull structure, or is there more muscle and skin than I'm thinking?

Purely,  no.  However they are greatly effected by the skull.  People experienced with it can usually create a model that is in the ballpark of what a person looked like from just a skull.

[Eagle of the Forest Path he/him]

Organs can be interesting too.

If a Kandra has digested a squid once, could they then mimic humans with the ability to spit ink?

[Stormgate he/him]

Or maybe even have finger guns that shoot water/ink/poison. 

[Ardjet]

Or two brains? Multiple stomachs to digest multiple bodies at a time? Seriously, kandra can be quite overpowered if done cleverly. Unless I'm forgetting something.

[Stormgate he/him]

I have had lots of ideas about what they could do. Turn into a parasite, go into someone, and eat them from the inside, keep mulitple sets of bones inside of them at all times to quickly change shapes, lots of stuff.

 

They could have two hearts.

[EdroGrimshell]

I have had lots of ideas about what they could do. Turn into a parasite, go into someone, and eat them from the inside, keep mulitple sets of bones inside of them at all times to quickly change shapes, lots of stuff.

 

They could have two hearts.

Or have an articulated set of bones that can be manipulated with muscle motions only a Kandra could do to change appearance with some practice.

[Blackhoof]

Well multiple sets of bones inside you would get quite crowded. Picture your body right now. Now imagine an entire other skeleton inside you. Maybe a Kandra disguised as an enormously obese person could hide the bones in fat, but it seems more trouble than it is worth.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Blackhoof

[Stormgate he/him]

Well multiple sets of bones inside you would get quite crowded. Picture your body right now. Now imagine an entire other skeleton inside you. Maybe a Kandra disguised as an enormously obese person could hide the bones in fat, but it seems more trouble than it is worth.

From what I understand, actually, when kandra take on a form, they are, for all intents and purposes, human. Besides healing, of course. Basically, they need a heart, lungs, and all that stuff.

[natc]

To be honest it seems less like normal magic healing and more that they simply pull remaining biomass back together to reconstruct functional organs.

[Stormgate he/him]

That's usually how shapeshifter healing works.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

Idea here!

Even if you can't store a human skeleton in your body due to lack of space you could probably store a small dog throughout your body.

Also imagine a mistwraith with average human or higher intelligence. Now imagine that mistwraith turning all it's limbs in one direction and charging you. And then suddenly from it's top ten arms pop up holding bows. And another ten appear in the front holding swords or maces swinging wild. That is the power of a kandra unrestrained.

Edited December 20, 2015 by ChickenPlague

[Stormgate he/him]

Never anger Harmony to the point that he sends out the kandra to do battle. Rule number one of the Cosmere. Those things could eat a chasm fiend.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

Those things could then control chasmfiend, walk up to an army kill them and put their arms on it's head and back and ta-daa you got a long range chasmfiend.

Also another thing. Radiant kandra with shardplate bones.

[King's Twit he/him]

I don't know if they could become a chasmfiend. It's been a while since I've read Stormlight, but isn't their gemheart the only thing that lets them support such a massive body? Maybe a Kandra could simulate that somehow, I'm not sure.

[Stormgate he/him]

There's an argument on the ability of chasmfiends to control their body sans gemheart.

[King's Twit he/him]

Huh, so you could possibly harvest the gem without killing the creature? That's certainly more humane, especially if they start trying to domesticate things with gemhearts.

[natc]

Well you still gotta cut open their chest and pull it out.

I'm sure a larger greatshell like the tai'nah (spelling?) would be useless without it too. It's really just because of chasmfiends not being much bigger than the largest dinosaurs that the subject persists.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

Even if you could technically do it you would have to reach it and take it out without killing the fiend.