DeadFencer Posted January 7, 2016 Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 So we know Feruchemy is a dominant trait in the spiritweb's Magic DNA. Theoretically, the majority of people with Terris blood should then have it. However, most Feruchemists were killed when the Steel Inquisitors attacked Terris. Because of this, most of the Terrispeople who survived the Catacendre were carriers of the Feruchemy gene at the most. However, since the gene is dominant, it will experience a resurgence as more generations pass. Full Feruchemists are limited by Allomancy, but the number of ferrings is not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King's Twit he/him Posted January 7, 2016 Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 (edited) It's been a while since my last bio class, but doesn't a trait being 'dominant' mean that you can not be a carrier of it? I think only recessive genes can be carried without manifesting because they are suppressed by the other, dominant allele. But that all aside, I don't know if we can attribute the traits of biological DNA to sDNA, they could work very differently, also I'm pretty sure Feruchemists often do not have Feruchemist children, I think they only occasionally have a Feruchemist child. Edited January 7, 2016 by King's Twit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent he/him Posted January 7, 2016 Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 If the "Feruchemy gene" were dominant, the obliteration of all Feruchemists would make it impossible for the magic to come back. What you are likely thinking is recessive - where people can carry a trait, but not express it (because it's being suppressed by a dominant copy). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidus Posted January 7, 2016 Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 Yeah feruchemy is recessive at best and honestly I doubt it's that simple either way, firstly because it involves sDNA and also because it's probably quite a complicated series of genes rather than one, otherwise we wouldn't have things like ferrings and it wouldn't interact with Allomantic genes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamEternal Posted January 7, 2016 Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 Yeah feruchemy is recessive at best and honestly I doubt it's that simple either way, firstly because it involves sDNA and also because it's probably quite a complicated series of genes rather than one, otherwise we wouldn't have things like ferrings and it wouldn't interact with Allomantic genes. Technically, it can be only one gene as long as its interactions with other genes, both mundane and supernatural, are very, very complicated. Althought the existence of mistborn and full feruchemists seems to imply additive genes that only give you power past certain numeric thresholds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creepileigh Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 (edited) A gene can be dominant but not result in a trait, like polydactyly.Feruchemy could be caused by a dominant gene but have low expressivity/penetrance. As far as mistborn/full feruchemists go, it could be that there are a bunch of genes that determine whether someone can use feruchemy, a bunch that determine whether a person can use allomancy, and a single gene with different variants that determines whether someone is a full feruchemist or mistborn. To be a full feruchemist or mistborn, a person would need two copies of the full feruchemist variant or two copies of the mistborn variant, respectively. That would also ensure they were mutually exclusive. Edited January 8, 2016 by Creepileigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidus Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 A gene can be dominant but not result in a trait, like polydactyly. Feruchemy could be caused by a dominant gene but have low expressivity/penetrance. As far as mistborn/full feruchemists go, it could be that there are a bunch of genes that determine whether someone can use feruchemy, a bunch that determine whether a person can use allomancy, and a single gene with different variants that determines whether someone is a full feruchemist or mistborn. To be a full feruchemist or mistborn, a person would need two copies of the full feruchemist variant or two copies of the mistborn variant, respectively. That would also ensure they were mutually exclusive. There's some weird stuff if you get too far into the genetics of spiritual traits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeadFencer Posted January 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 I could have sworn I read somewhere Feruchemy was a dominant sDNA trait Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oversleep Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 But a Fullborn can be born as consequence of mixing bloodlines. It's just extremely unlikely. So the genes cannot be exclusive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creepileigh Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 I was under the impression that they interfered with each other, preventing a combination of full feruchemy and mistborn. Reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidus Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 I was under the impression that they interfered with each other, preventing a combination of full feruchemy and mistborn. Reference. Interference doesn't mean it happens every time, just that the introduction of allomantic genes made ferrings possible. Spoilers for the released chapters from Bands of Mourning It seems that certain people in-world believe that Feruchemists will one day be born again which suggests it's not all or nothing in terms of interference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creepileigh Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 I'm doing a really bad job of explaining what I mean here.I don't mean that Allomantic ability and full Feruchemist status is mutually exclusive, or that Feruchemical ability and Mistborn status is mutually exclusive. Like, I think someone could be born a full Feruchemist-Misting, or a Mistborn-Ferring, but not a Feruchemist-Mistborn.As in the "full-spectrum of powers in this art" gene is either full Feruchemist, Mistborn, or neither, but never both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidus Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 I'm doing a really bad job of explaining what I mean here. I don't mean that Allomantic ability and full Feruchemist status is mutually exclusive, or that Feruchemical ability and Mistborn status is mutually exclusive. Like, I think someone could be born a full Feruchemist-Misting, or a Mistborn-Ferring, but not a Feruchemist-Mistborn. As in the "full-spectrum of powers in this art" gene is either full Feruchemist, Mistborn, or neither, but never both. Well as far as we know feruchemist genes don't interfere with Allomancy in any way so a feruchemist misting should be no more improbable than a feruchemist-mistborn (Other than of course the far less likely nature of being a mistborn than a misting) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creepileigh Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 I think I'm over here interpreting "interfering" as "alleles on the same locus", which would make them interfere with each other, instead of considering other ways they could interfere. Messing with spiritual metabolic pathways or something, I dunno. Spiritual transcription inhibition. Spiritual alternative splicing could be a thing.Man, I'd really like to know how the genes for Allomancy/Feruchemy are actually inherited, because they are not Mendelian traits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidus Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 I think I'm over here interpreting "interfering" as "alleles on the same locus", which would make them interfere with each other, instead of considering other ways they could interfere. Messing with spiritual metabolic pathways or something, I dunno. Spiritual transcription inhibition. Spiritual alternative splicing could be a thing. Man, I'd really like to know how the genes for Allomancy/Feruchemy are actually inherited, because they are not Mendelian traits. No certainly not, I'd suggest trawling through Theoryland for quotes on sDNA, might be helpful. Though I can't think of anything specific off the top of my head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windrunner he/him Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 I'm doing a really bad job of explaining what I mean here. I don't mean that Allomantic ability and full Feruchemist status is mutually exclusive, or that Feruchemical ability and Mistborn status is mutually exclusive. Like, I think someone could be born a full Feruchemist-Misting, or a Mistborn-Ferring, but not a Feruchemist-Mistborn. As in the "full-spectrum of powers in this art" gene is either full Feruchemist, Mistborn, or neither, but never both. I wondered the same thing, so I asked Brandon in his reddit Q&A. Windrunner Is it is even possible for a full Feruchemist Mistborn to be naturally born, or will the genes for the two interfere with one another too much? Brandon Sanderson Is possible, but highly unlikely. Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creepileigh Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 Clearly the answer to our questions is a Scadrial Soul Genome Project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormgate he/him Posted January 9, 2016 Report Share Posted January 9, 2016 I wonder what Mettalic Arts Punett squares look like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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