Elsecaller_17.5 he/him Posted July 1, 2019 Posted July 1, 2019 So obviously the various enhancement metals can effect allomancy, and we know that aluminum in particular has numerous investiture blocking abilities and I was wondering if that sort of thing could happen with other metals. i.e. could a duralumin gnat who also happens to be an surgebinder heal greater wounds with less stormlight if he burned duralumin at the same time? What do you guys think?
Chromium Compounder Posted July 1, 2019 Posted July 1, 2019 There’s a couple problems there. First is that all surgebinders have 2 types of investiture (their 2 surges), so also being a duralumin gnat would give them three, which would disrupt their resonance. Second is that what you’re referring to doesn’t sound like resonance. It sounds more like you’re just asking if duralumin could be used to do a burst effect of stormlight. For that I would expect that it can. 1
Weltall Posted July 1, 2019 Posted July 1, 2019 (edited) As mentioned what you're asking about is using two or more powers together. A Resonance is an extra effect you get from having multiple powers but which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the applcations of those powers. For example, Windrunners get more and stronger Squires, which isn't any direct application of Gravitation or Adhesion. Also, if you have too many powers, you lose access to any Resonance you might have had. Mistborn for example don' have any Resonance(s) because of how many powers they've got. 3 hours ago, Truthwatcher_17.5 said: So obviously the various enhancement metals can effect allomancy, and we know that aluminum in particular has numerous investiture blocking abilities and I was wondering if that sort of thing could happen with other metals. i.e. could a duralumin gnat who also happens to be an surgebinder heal greater wounds with less stormlight if he burned duralumin at the same time? We know that at least some allomantic abilities work across magic systems and the Ars Arcanum description doesn't factor that in, ie we know that A-Chromium works on other forms of Investiture and that A-Bronze can detect any kinetic Investiture and not just actively burning metals. This includes A-Aluminum being able to purge other forms of Investiture from the body. However, whether that applies to A-Duralumin we're not sure of and how it would work in other magic systems if it does is an open question. It might work in Surgebinding, in which case the effect would be similar to the burst of power in allomancy. However, one thing to remember is that duralumin and nicrosil don't actually increase your power per se, they just release all of it in one huge burst so the effect of all the metal you're burning hits at once instead of over some longer period. Assuming for purposes of argument that you could 'burst' Surgebinding, the effect would be to deplete whatever Stormlight you've inhaled and put it all into whatever application of your Surges you're currently playing with. If you were doing a Basic Lashing for example, you'd probably get some super-high multiplier depending on how much Stormlight you'd inhaled (hopefully you weren't trying to lash yourself to the side of a building...) or if you were healing yourself you'd deplete all your Stormlight and heal faster than normal. However, if you compared healing with and without the duralumin boost, the end result should be the same because you're using the same amount of Investiture to accomplish the job, you're just getting it all at once. It certainly wouldn't help you heal using less Stormlight since that's pretty much the opposite of what duralumin does. Oh, it should be added that to use a power like A-Duralumin with an unrelated magic system might not be as simple as just burning the metal while you're trying to surgebind, it's possible some sort of hack would be necessary to make the former power 'see' the latter as a viable target. EDIT: All that typing and it turns out that someone asked Brandon this at a signing. Because of course they did. Quote Paladin Brewer If a person had the power of Mistborn and other powers like Surges, could he use duralumin to power the Surges? Brandon Sanderson This is possible. Skyward Houston signing (Nov. 19, 2018) So there you go, it definitely can be done. I suspect the caveats I listed above about how it would work in practice should apply, of course. Edited July 1, 2019 by Weltall 3
Quantus he/him Posted July 1, 2019 Posted July 1, 2019 6 hours ago, Weltall said: As mentioned what you're asking about is using two or more powers together. A Resonance is an extra effect you get from having multiple powers but which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the applications of those powers. For example, Windrunners get more and stronger Squires, which isn't any direct application of Gravitation or Adhesion. This is pure speculation on my part, but I dont think that is entirely the case. Gravitation is described as manipulating your Connection to the planet to redirect Gravity, and Adhesion (at least Spiritual Adhesion) is also an example of manipulating Connection. I think the reason that Windrunners get augmented Squires is because their Gravitation and Adhesion are working together in the Spiritual domain to forge stronger Connections to their Squires.
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