Kurkistan

Recursion... Sorry about that, and about any confusion. I was referring to the video when I said "more to come."

Awhile back, I once promised (or was it a threat?) Phantom that I could explain Brass being Cognitive, despite the apparent absurdity of this notion. I am now fulfilling that declaration of intent. Enjoy. Background: The Feruchemical metals have an interesting history, so far as their breakdown goes. The four metals that correspond to the mental metals in Allomancy are Copper for memory, Bronze for wakefulness (how alert you are, essentially), Zinc for mental speed, and Brass for... warmth??? So clearly something is odd here. And then we tumble down the rabbit hole. Turns out that Brandon made a whoopsie. He accidentally switched Electrum (determination) with Brass. Instead of retconning this error, though, he canonized it, making Electrum a "Hybrid" metal--aka a Physical metal--and Brass Cognitive. This ends up in Feruchemy being Realmatically based, with "a quadrant of Spiritual, a quadrant of Cognitive and two quadrants of Physical." So, switcheroos aside, this leaves us with an issue. Warmth, of all things, is Cognitive. Let's explain that. -Side note: Also, Bronze is weird, as it seems more a physical requirement, on first blush. I would think, then, that the need for sleep is modeled in the Cosmere as being an absolute mental/psychological requirement, in regards to alertness and mental fatigue. See: Miles' only two restrictions being the need for sleep and aging (Forms!), despite his ability to Heal away physical fatigue. Evidence: Evidence-wise, we don't have much. The main trilogy only really has Sazed tapping small amounts to keep himself warm in cold environments, while the AoL Ars Arcanum gives us the name "Firesoul" for Brass ferrings. Though I usually hesitate to cite the MAG (because of the evil evil things it does to time bubbles, if for no other reason)--specifically in cases that may run afoul of its acknowledged (and, to a large extent, intentional) inaccuracies about Feruchemy--it may be edifying in this case. As was brought to my attention when I tried to have our resident Feruchemist set fire to a warehouse the other day, Brass has a rather interesting constraint in the MAG: It can't light things on fire. Tapped Brass can warm the area around you and melt ice, as well hurt other people if you touch them skin-to-skin, but it can't cause fires: "no matter how hot you get you may not burn or ignite objects." Despite this restriction, "A Feruchemist who taps huge amounts of warmth radiates heat like a furnace, melting nearby snow and ice, and even boiling water." This bit on fire may or may not be accurate. It makes sense for a game to not want Feruchemists setting stuff on fire, and the threshold for spontaneous combustion is usually pretty high, by my understanding. But not so high for charring. And boiling water isn't exactly a low-energy feat. We may have a clue here. ---- I'm going to try something new this thread. Normally, the "workflow" for my threads is "hmm, that's an interesting question," followed by a week or two of thought, followed by a few hours or days of writing down everything I can think of on the subject, followed by a mondo-post like you see before you today. But in this case, I am really not sure as to the accuracy of my answer. What follows is really just speculation that may be totally wrong, and I'm interested in any other theories people may have to explain why Feruchemical brass is Cognitive--or why Feruchemical electrum is Physical, for that matter. So feel free to ignore the "spoiled" section and just post your own thoughts, if you have some ideas of your own.

Brandon is answering some questions on reddit, with a video to come, it seems. Of particular note to me is that Hoid has been regrowing his fingers and the second set of 5 SA books will be more akin to a sequel than the "break, then continue on" that I've been assuming.

So Brandon's been answering some questions on reddit (with more to come in the form of a video, apparently), and has said this: Source: We know that he uses Feruchemy to be around at "important events", but this suggests that he's a full Feruchemist, rather than just a Ferring. Of course, Hoid could be using another magic system to heal himself, but this is still rather strong evidence for Feruchemical gold.

Lifeless could give away their Breath if they were smarter, so presumably they could also utilize other magic systems. I wouldn't be surprised if a skilled Thug or a savant made into a Lifeless burned their metals instinctively. Source

I'd simply assumed she went on living a normal life.

Whether or not you see gold shadows when you compound is a matter of debate, though I believe that the consensus is that you can choose between getting the Feruchemical and Allomantic effects: you don't need to get both. So a Compounder would normally just burn for the Feruchemical effect and get super-large amounts of Health, not the shadows.

Welcome to the forums! My understanding of Allomantic pewter is that it boost your natural abilities to an unnatural level, not that it replaces them. You can still get cut or bruised when burning pewter, but the initial impact is dulled by the pewter, and your healing is sped up afterwards. So pewter "supercharges" everything, but still has to work through the scaffold of your body, which is necessarily going to suffer some amount of strain whenever you move it around. If you've read the Way of Kings, I imagine it's similar to how those wearing Shardplate still grow fatigued, as the Plate only enhances their actions, it doesn't replace them. Yes, I think Feruchemical gold would remove fatigue, though not the bare need for sleep. Which books have you read?

Shard's aren't just lying around for the picking, and for all we know Ruin and Preservation may actually be the only two shards so well balanced. As to there having to be a significant (read: mind-warping) Intent for all Shards, I don't necessarily think so. I doubt that the complete version of Adonalsium was swayed one way or another, when all 16 Shards were as one.

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound "insider" on that. No, I do not have any special knowledge. It's just "1337,": "leet," as in "elite". Sounds like Hoid's style.

1337, definitely.

I believe that particular quote was about FTL, not visiting Shadesmar.

Only if it were plausible for that door to have been made into a "portal" in its past, and even that assumes that Forgery can Forge the effects of other magic systems (making a corpse be Invested with Breath, for instance).

I don't think so. The window "wanting to be beautiful" was a function of it having once been stained glass. It wasn't a case of a window that was always just a regular window spontaneously wanting to be stained glass. There has to be some seed there.

I don't think Forging would work for "portals," unless you can manage to Forge something's past such that it was turned into a portal some other way in its past.

Forging might work by altering someone's location--and thus functionally bypassing Shadesmar--rather than (or in addition to, as may be) their other traits.

Interesting theory, Kadrok. I hadn't thought to expand the "every metal is mental" to the question of how Atium is special.

Not so far, happy. If you woke up one day and had people calling you a god, lavishing wealth upon you and whatnot, wouldn't you be likely to both accept their gifts (especially if you don't really have the option of refusing them, either physically or socially) and try to repay them in some way by acting your part in public? Lightsong's actions in regards to his perceived divinity don't require that he be a god, simply that he be a fairly good person.

I really think you're just being too restrictive. Does Odium Odi-ize things? We only have a bare handful of Intents to discuss: it's unwarranted to say that something is off if Honor's primary activity isn't Honoring things.

Dense thing into air = Fresh air for free (and raising the pressure in any given enclossed space, also.) So nice for space and submarine travel.

I don't really read that passage as "let people do what they want," since he's actively trying to make a world where the most people can make their own choices. That implies a bias against those who would force choices on others or otherwise prevent others from making their own choices--aka, those who want to destroy others in various senses of the word.

That is a possibility, as I suggested. I don't think we need be so focused on what the Shard's "do", versus what they are. They embody their Intents, I would think, and so should act accordingly per each Intent. So Honor should act like a perfectly honorable person with god-like power because that's what he is. His magic system values those who embody honor as well, it would seem. I do think you're being a tad harsh on Tanavast. He can miss the unity and purpose that the old time brought without missing the death and suffering that accompanied it. People laud the unity present in times of war or calamity all the time without us assuming that they think either state of affairs is desirable. No! Stick with the physical book! It's better! (especially Stormlight books, due the the interior artwork). I actually did a shamefully wasteful thing and got both: I picked up the eBook when it was on sale for $3 on Amazon. It has been useful for theorizing.

@Moogle Nice thoughts. However, I don't think concepts of honor are quite so malleable as you fear. I doubt Dexter would get an honorspren. I would propose that "Honor" so far as the Shard and its magic goes is tied up in some near-universal concept of Honor that is not open to being manipulated on any local level. This conception may well flow from Tanavast's idea of honor, though I think it very likely that some "Form" of Honor (shameless plug) is heavily involved (though perhaps influenced, in turn, by Tanavast). *Mistborn Spoilers* TLR referred to himself as a god in his dying words and had an entire planet (mostly) going along with him, and yet still he aged. So he couldn't even alter his own Cognitive aspect such that aging was not the cards for him. I doubt, then, that a serial killer could manipulate something like Honor on even a personal level, let alone a regional one.

I would hesitate to say "in balance" is Sazed's new thing, or at least that it's any consequence of the Shards. You'll forgive me, but I've been waiting to rant on this particular misconception (in my opinion, at least) for awhile, and now I have an opportunity : I've noticed a trend of people taking the "balance" of Harmony a bit too literally, so I'd like to get my own interpretation of "harmony" as a positive. First of all, Sazed is still Sazed, he isn't being warped by Intents and won't be any time soon. I'd like to think that Sazed is a decent guy, if a bit non-interventionist. Therefore, he's not going to go all crazy obsessing about "balances." (Sources: It'll be awhile, likened to gravitation). I have a post or two about this in the past. Here's a quote from the horse's mouth: AoL "Creating a way" for others to make their own choices is a fairly positive action geared toward freedom and/or self-actualization, I would think, rather than brute "balance."

Did someone say Realmatics!? Yeah, it's because of cultural perceptions. We have direct Brandon quotes on it, and I've spun off a related theory as well. Link Link