Flaring metals and the creation of Elantrians

[Djarskublar he/him]

So I got to thinking, is there any other potential use to the damage to your spiritweb caused by flaring metals for too long? Spook proved that it makes your allomancy more powerful, but perhaps there are other effects. I'm not talking about just making you crazy in exchange for power.

The main thing I thought of was the potential effects for someone on Sel. Say a person of Arelish descent living near Elantris got an allomantic spike, and flared it a lot like Spook did just to get damage done to their spiritweb. What effect would this have on their likelihood of becoming an Elantrian? Would it act like damaging growth plates and make it impossible? I.e. damaging the part of the spiritweb that allows them to become an Elantrian? Or would the cracks in the spiritweb make it easier for the Shaod to take you? I could also see it having no effect because the damage only happens to the part of the spiritweb that affects allomancy, not the stuff that governs becoming an Elantrian.

Similarly, would the cracks to your web qualify as breaking you so that you could become a Radiant? I imagine you would have to be flaring with a purpose to attract a spren, say flaring to take down criminals = you get to be a Skybreaker, flaring emotional allomancy to help you in the political theater = you are a potential Bondsmith, etc.

I chatted about this with a couple people, and we couldn't come to a consensus about the effects of flaring. Thoughts?

After I finished editing the rest of the post, I thought of something else. What effects would flaring have on the spike itself? Would flaring even damage your spititweb? Or would it perhaps just damage the spiritweb stapled on by the spike and cause the spike to degrade as if it were not in contact with blood?

[PallonianFire he/him]

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Similarly, would the cracks to your web qualify as breaking you so that you could become a Radiant? I imagine you would have to be flaring with a purpose to attract a spren, say flaring to take down criminals = you get to be a Skybreaker, flaring emotional allomancy to help you in the political theater = you are a potential Bondsmith, etc.

I think this is exactly what it would do.

 

7 minutes ago, Djarskublar said:

After I finished editing the rest of the post, I thought of something else. What effects would flaring have on the spike itself? Would flaring even damage your spititweb? Or would it perhaps just damage the spiritweb stapled on by the spike and cause the spike to degrade as if it were not in contact with blood?

I don't imagine it would affect the spike itself, but I could see there being localized cracking in the Spirit Web around the spike. If that's even a thing.

Hmm, I wonder if there are actual locations on the Spirit Web which would potentially allow/encourage different types of magic...

[Radiant Returned he/him]

Are we sure that an Allomantic spike would actually work on Sel? We haven't seen anything (we think) like this in an actual novel, and Sanderson has said that while Hemalurgy is designed to work across magic systems he has also said IIRC that magics may not cross exactly across worlds. Also, I have problems with how the Connection would work here. 

In The Emperor's Soul we see that Soulstamping will only take if the change is plausible. While this hasn't been absolutely proven to transcend across all magic systems, it certainly seems like one of those Laws that would. You can only change a person or objects Spiritweb to what is historically plausible to them. This works in Allomantic Spikes on Scadrial because Allomancy is genetic, so while it is damaging what a spike theoretically does is change your Spiritweb slightly to where you now inherited the "Allomantic gene" per say from some distant relative. It's not a big stretch. But to be taken by the Shaod, all data as of right now points toward having to have a strong Connection to the land of Arelon. It's not 100%, but it is close to genetic. 

So you're asking this Hemalurgic spike to recreate a person's history that they were born on Sel and have a strong Connection to the land of Arelon, while also trying to make it plausible that you have the genetic makeup of a Scadrian allomancer. So while we've never seen this happen, I think the spike would actually be rejected and do...well whatever that would do. Main point: while Hemalurgic spikes can change people's Spiritwebs, based off the magic in Emperor's Soul I don't think they can change someone's Spiritweb without limits pertaining to Connection and feasibility. Problems like this are possibly why Hoid, despite all his knowledge about Investiture, has not been able to gain the powers of all the places he has visited (we see from the new epilogue in Elantris 10th anniversary that he tried and failed to become an Elantrian, and while he gained a piece of God basically in Lerasium, we don't know if he has used it OR, a bigger question that I haven't seen asked, if he tried to use it and failed). 

[Djarskublar he/him]

You may be right, but my understanding of hemalugy is different. It staples someone else's spiritweb to you. It doesn't change 'you'. It is stealing, not changing. That's why when Vin doesn't have in her earring she is normal. If it worked how you say, I would expect a spike to shift your web, and then basically drain the spike. You could take out the spike and you would still be a different person. That's why I was wondering what flaring would affect. Would it damage 'you' or the bit of someone else stapled to you? How would that affect your ability to use the spike? If it damages you, I can see it affecting your probability of becoming an Elantrian. For clarification, I was saying you would spike someone with a strong connection to Elantris, i.e. someone who already had a chance of becoming an Elantrian.

Sel is the only planet where location and form really matter. WoB consistently states that the fact that non-Sel systems work basically the same on other planets. I personally asked if Syl would still manifest as a Shardblade in the same way on Sel or Scadrial. He said she would. Capiche? Hemalurgy is NOT forging.