Questions about (and implications of) New Tech [BoM Spoilers]

[Nethseäar he/him]

Caveat: I finished Bands in two blurry sittings, then lent my copy to a friend, and time has passed. I'll need to go over everything we have on Allomantic Grenades again. Meanwhile, I wanted to get these thoughts in circulation. Please correct me where we have solid information already!



As I understand it, Allomantic Grenades take the ability of an Allomancer for X period of time, and then use that ability in a sphere around their position for X duration. It is uncertain whether there is an upper limit to how long Grenades can be charged/set off. Presumably Flaring metals while charging increases the output power of the Grenade (I don't recall having seen this, though).

However they work, we have never as yet seen one stop working. (They can be re-used, and we don't know if there is an upper limit on re-use, or if maintenance/re-fueling is necessary).

Allomantic Grenades charged by Coinshots are vital to the function of Allomantic Engines, and can be powered by Ettmetal. Speculating: Grenades may be able to sustain brief Allomantic charges indefinitely (outside of an engine) if supplied with enough Ettmetal.

Questions:

1. Do charges from Internal Metals do anything? (Would a Pewter charge, for instance, grant the strength, dexterity, etc. to those near the Grenade? or would the Grenade itself suddenly become . . . strong and dexterous? or would nothing happen?)

2. Can multiple Grenades be charged simultaneously by a single Misting/Twinborn? If so, is each Grenade given a full-power charge? or is each given a reduced-power charge, decreasing the output power similarly to how Flaring presumably increases it?

3. Can multiple Allomancers charge a single Grenade simultaneously? Can a Mistborn charge a single Grenade with multiple kinds of Allomancy?

4. Is there a Feruchemical equivalent? With a switch for tapping/storing, maybe. But then, what would that even do? Same kind of issue as Internal Allomancy -- you need a person. Feruchemy already has Metalminds to fill this role, and unkeyed Metalminds to boot. Maybe a Feruchemical equivalent would Store from people in the area (against their will), and then give to people in the area when you switch modes?

5. Do they operate based on some entirely new branch of the Metallic Arts? Or, if not, how do they fit into the three existing systems?

6. Can the delay between charging and discharging be changed? Can an Allomantic charge be saved for long periods of time?

7. Does anything awesome/terrible happen if you destroy an Allomantic Grenade while it's discharging?

Some implications:

A single Slider (Bendalloy Misting) or Pulser (Cadmium Misting) can stack at least two time bubbles (compounding the effect) by themselves, using a Grenade. (They can stack more if Grenades can be variably time-delayed or can be charged simultaneously).

THROWABLE TIME BUBBLES, as already demonstrated in Bands. Cadmium is so much more easily useful with Grenades. I briefly imagined that the bubble would remain centered on the Grenade, and thus could be freely moved, but, presumably, the bubble collapses if the Grenade is removed from the bubble. 



These are my thoughts. What other implications or questions can you think of? I look forward to learning more in later books.

[Shardbearer he/him]

Good questions, and the answers should prove to be very interesting as we hear about them from WoB and future books.

[Stormgate he/him]

What about aluminum? Would it work? And what about bronze? Would everyone around hear Allomantic thumpings?