Satsuoni

I hear Alfie talking as I prepare to leave, so I turn back. "I don't really expect you to fight if you were to get a spike. I was just asking if you would want it implanted. No matter. If you don't want it, I'll claim it. Investiture works better in combination arts, anyway. Thugs are relatively common Allomancers, especially in criminal gangs, so one could be acquired. As for your question, no. Most Bloodmakers can shrug off drugs and poisons, including alcohol, as long as they have health, regardless of its mechanism of action. I'll probably have to resort to my scrambling ability to neutralize his or her Goldminds. " I sigh "Bothersome, nya" "Well, till morning then." I go into my room. Exhaustion rises in me as if I released pewter after dragging. I collapse on my bed and go to sleep.

I find no sign of Alfie in the kitchen, and assume that he went to the cold cellar instead. Luckily the proximity of mountain provided them with enough ice to keep it going without any additional expense. My human and cat instincts agree on the food preferences in this instance, and I eat the fish I boiled before going to sleep. Afterwards, I wince somewhat, but force myself to eat some salad. My digestive system didn't change as much as my appearance, and I still need to balance my diet. That taken care of, I examine the condition of my nicrosilminds. They are almost full, and I still have some nicrosil left in my stomach. A waste,nya. I gaze at myself in the small mirror hanging on the wall above the table, examining my large, slitted eyes and a scar on my forehead hiding a spike. It will be a long day, or most likely several, and it has been a while... I decide to indulge myself. My nicrosilminds are full, and there is no pewter in my stomach. I flare the filled nicrosil, and tap investiture, the raw power under Metallic Arts, the same power that makes up my soul. Souls. The power surges within me, and I direct it. It is like trying to direct waterfall with my hands. Fortunately, the spikes, as well as other uses of Metallic Arts, serve as natural drains, so I manage to split the power,directing as much as I could into the spike in my head. In the mirror, I can see my eyes strain, the right one reverting into a more human form with a stab of pain. The remains of the spirit of my old cat soak up the energy and with a sharp tug inside my skull become aware, identity powerful enough to think separately for a while. For a few moments, it sees like I once again sleep with her nearby, neither of us capable of truly loving, but just for a few moments, content in each others presence... Until nicrosil runs out, leaving me reeling and with building headache. Enough, nya. I get to my feet with some difficulty, and go in the direction of the cooler cave. As I expected, Alfie is there, enthusiastically devouring a large silvery trout. I address him,hoping the he'd hear over the crunching of fish bones. "Well, I am as ready as I can be. Ready to nap, nya. Just one more thing - decide if you want to claim the gold spike if we get one on this missionya, and tell me in he morning, along with the other thing you might need that I can help get." I turn and prepare to leave.

Ok, people, some points to consider: 1. Remember when Sazed used his weights to stop the gates being hit by Koloss from opening? While that is probably not as much energy as a colliding car, it would still left him broken if his weight was not increased. The damage to the tissues is not done by energy, in the end, it is done by displacements of molecules in the body, and heavier molecules are displaced much less by the same amount of energy. 2. The iron feruchemists do not conserve energy, unless it is tapped directly from the weight/mass by mc^2. Here is what happens when iron is tapped mid-swing: Likewise, storing weight mid-flight will drain your kinetic energy. 3. This is a rather strange point, but while iron stores something that seems like mass, it is not quite mass, since your density apparently does not change significantly (alloy of law) Which is kind of weird, since the ability to cut also depends on displacing molecules, and may indicate that, like so many things cosmere, weight/mass depends on perception of the objects around him (in this case, whether his body is perceived as a whole or in parts. By the bullet. As I said, strange.) And to the OP: An iron allomancer/feruchemist (which would incidentally make him a compounder) will probably be able to kind of fly, but it would be awkward at best. Like described above - throw a heavy object away, store, pull yourself toward it, stop pulling, tap weight, slam into object, imparting to it significant excess momentum, store, seeing it fly off, rinse and repeat.

I look after departing cat. From previous encounters, I assume he is going to search for metals. I - we - smile to ourselves. He will find it in the usual place. I had nyaither reason nor desire to move them. We are currently located in a relatively small manor house built into the rock face of the mountains. These are my holdings. The grounds are mainly covered by forest, and are known as a moderately good hunting area. The main source of wealth, and the reason the house was built here is a small mine containing several allomantic metals, now assumed to be close to depletion (it isn't). The series of caves connect the mine and the house. The house has two stories. The "official" metal lab is on the first one. The unofficial one is deeper in the caves. Both contain some metal geared for cat consumption. The unofficial one also contains other implements. Food is in a cooler cellar built into the rock, and in the kitchen. My sight changes slightly, and I start paying more attention to the smells, crouching for the moment and fighting the desire to follow Alfie to the place I know fish is stored. I hiss to ourselves as I fight the impulse down. Now is not the time. Tomorrow, we have a long trip ahead of us, and the preparation comes first, nya. From the blurring of my night vision I assume that human part is currently prevalent, so I straighten up and go into my room. Bloodmakers. One way to kill them was to deplete or scramble their goldminds. The compounders, like late Miles Hundredlives (I sigh at the thought of two wasted abilities), are rare and well known, so meeting one was unlikely, and normal bloodmakers could only store so much. Still there was not telling just how much was so much, and I didn't want to kill one by mistake. Which meant that I was going to kill one deliberately. I smile grimly and prepare extractor daggers, taking a moment to admire my handiwork. The spikes used for cats are in general too small or too convoluted to be driven through human heart directly. However, that is not important. The important part is contact with blood, preferably untainted by contact with other metals at the same locus. Hence, the extractor daggers, made of specially reinforced glass with the hilt that could be screwed off. On the sides and the tip of the blade, several slits allowed blood to access the replaceable core containing the metal spike, which could therefore be made of almost any form. I debated between gold core, or that of precious Atium, deciding on the gold in the end. Next, I placed additional Nicrosilminds on my arms, wincing a little as the blades cut into the scars left from the previous use, and flaring charged Nicrosil to replenish them. In case of need, I could do quite a few tricks with my Nicrosilminds full, especially with the addition of pewter. I continue to pack, preparing a small cosmetics kit to hide some of the obvious effects of my transformation, a full extractor glove - just in case - and some loose clothes with enough space to hide a cat easily if need be. Satisfied, I give in to my urges and wander in the direction of the kitchen.

"Bloodmakers in Elendel. Yes, we will need those abilities if we are to operate effectively in the Roughs, not to mention the spike research won't hurt so much,nya." I wince, remembering my latest attempt. Many of the bind points are located in similar positions on humans and cats, and my larger body allows for larger room for error, not to mention Investiture-boosted pewter, so many of the experiments with the smaller spikes I perform on myself, and the pain is often more than the pewter should have allowed. A curious phenomena, actually. I realize that my mind was wandering and returned to the task at hand. "The gang was spotted in fifth and sixth octants. As you can see, in the 7th octant I have a safehouse, which doubles as a small metal shop, nya. It is staffed by humans that are unaware of Caton existence, however, so, although my predilection for feeding and taking care of cats is well known, please limit yourself to the circumspect use of your abilities when in their presence. Nevertheless, there are several hidden entrances for the cats that lead to the lower levels with the hemalurgic lab, as well as a small tunnel" - I look at my hands, remembering the time, so soon after my death - wait that wasn't me, right? - when I just got pewter, and used it to power myself through digging that tunnel with a pickaxe and a shovel. The first time i had pewter dragged. I shudder at the memory, and return to the present - "Leading right here, nya. If you could lure a Bloodmaker into this alley near a safehouse, we should be able to make him disappear. This would also mean that I will need to go with you. It has been a while since I traveled to Elnyadel." I sigh. "Deceptions, you see, ever since I changed, I have to wear dark protective glasses at the very least. Very annyaing." My voice starts to slip more often as my excitement rises, and I burn nicrosil purely to calm myself down. "Necessary, though. We can't keep the captives alive for long, not there, and none of the cats are agile enough to work the spikes yet, I am afraid. In any way, you can rest here until the noon tomorrow. You know where the freezer and the kitchen are, so help yourself. We are out of the bandit, I am afraid, so you'll have to make do with trout and beef. Meanwhile, I am going to prepare for tomorrow. Tell me if you need something."

I wake up slowly, my many wounds vying to be the first to actually bring me back to consciousness. For a moment, I am not sure who I am, but then my cat identity goes mostly dormant, apparently deciding to continue napping. Almost on instinct, I burn some pewter and charged Nicrosil, jolt of power enough to shake off the remains of drowsiness. With a start, I remember the reason I didn't just continue sleeping. A glance on the clock piece, incongruously standing in the corner of otherwise sparsely adorned cave, shows me that there is still some time, if, of course, the one I am meeting will bother coming on time himself. But he should, for I have something that he craves. Sighing, I stand up and head through labyrinthine caves for the house proper, retrieving a package of metal on the way. I swallow several beads of Nicrosil and Pewter myself, just to be on the safe side, though the full nicrosilminds hidden in my body should be sufficient. He is waiting for me in the room, almost half an hour before the arranged time, his black-striped reddish tail flicking, betraying his impatience. I acknowledge it. In many ways, I.. we? Nya... My identity shifts for a moment until I regain my balance. I can see that the cat has noticed that, and hiss at him for a moment, baring my no longer quite human teeth. I waste no more time. "Alfie. Glad to see you here, nya. It was getting lonely out here, all other Inquisitors being busy elsewhere, nya." - my voicebox is no longer quite human, too. By the way the cat's eyes glazed and moved out of sync, following something that wasn't there, I realized that he was burning Electrum. For a moment I contemplated stopping mid-sentence and seeing if that would cause him to pay more attention to the present, but then, reluctantly rejected the idea. "The fact that you are here means that you are almost out of Electrum, and came here for more. Very well. Please remember, though that our mine here has not nearly enough gold left. While my Allomatic alloys are prized, and we are reasonably well to do, I still expect something in exhange." Suddenly, I feel a curious sensation that always accompanied emotional Allomancy since I got a spike in my forehead. It no longer works quite right, and I am still not sure if I can be taken over, but I don't feel like finding out. I tap Investiture. Long practice allows me to somewhat direct the raw force that rushes through me, searching for an exit. My spikes flare in pain, as some of the power leaks through the imperfect connections between my soul and their, but I continue tapping until I have enoough to jam influence of external Investiture, such as emotional allomancy. "None of this" - I hiss. "Or I'll leave you to enjoy your withdrawal." Emotional influence ceases, the cat whispering something to himself. Calming down, I unroll two maps from the table on which Alfie has emplaced himself. Elendel basin Elendel "Here is our operation, as current as I could make it. Nyaaa~ Still working on the communication spikes, I am. Which brings me to the point. There are several ways you could help Cat Inquisitors, and therefore insure that your supply of this" -I pull out a small box, revealing some metal pellets geared for cat consumption as well as some metal cotton, and give it to Alfie. "As you can see, our major interests - well, mainly mine, nya, but some others agree, those not too busy eating fish - are in Weathering and Elendel. In Weathering, we need to establish a safehouse and spike extraction zone. In Elendel, we need to establish at least some kind of monitoring in the fifth octant, and there were reports of a gang involving Bloodmaker criminals in the 6th, always a welcome spike. Well. Where would you like to start?"

Aye. Just in case, you did get my forum PM, Nepene?

Where is it? *froths at the mouth* Where!?

The only problem is that they need rubies (the size of which governs amount of stormlight and therefore charge) and special spren, so mass-producing them is tricky. But not to fear! After all, gems are just quartz with bits of metal in it (well, a lot of them are). One day, they'll learn to soulcast the stuff, and their economy will collapse And spanreeds (or their advanced equivalents) will be common.

Maybe slow, but not necessarily if you could make it light up when you press it and stop glowing when you release, which appears feasible (although not direct use of conjoiners, at least not in physical sense. We still have no idea how different settings work). Then you could just use morse code in flashes. Or even make a large keyboard that highlights glyphs in order. Also note, that they are only just beginning the magitek revolution, those spanreeds, etc, are relatively new, and the first telegraph models were much worse. Maybe they will develop something more effective, like Etch-a-sketch on a distance,etc. Well, I was thinking more in the spherical coordinates. I wonder what happens if the conjoin activation is made at a different angle, actually. You can certainly change relative position, so what would happen if you were to turn reed upside-down? (It will probably reorient, given the difference between them and anti-conjoiners forgot-the-names. But not sure. The orientation is certainly maintained while conjoin is activated, since the pen can be rotated) So, for now: at the activation of conjoined effect, rotation is set to zero - towards center or so, probably depending on perception a bit... Wait, I'll pursue this thought later. [EDIT] Pursuing... The relative orientation in the horizontal plane does not seem to matter, at least there is no indication to the contrary. Otherwise (if moving spanreed north would have moved its pair north), all desks would have been necessary to align precisely, which does not seem to be the case.

Hm, an interesting note about spanreeds: Spanreeds had several modes of operation, switching between conjoined mode and non-conjoined mode (otherwise you wouldn't be able to carry them) and flashing. Which means that at the very least, you could use the light switching on and off as a signal, without bothering about orientation, etc. Still, it would need a specially trained operator to interpret them. The usage of the levels suggests that spanreeds are oriented relative to the planet, much like speed bubbles. Also, an aside: spanreed was used to send messages from Kharbranth to shattered plains, which, looking at the map, is about 1/4th of the lengths of the whole continent (single on the planet). No degradation was apparent, and Shanlan could still draw easily enough. The stromlight consumption might be greater, but I don't think range plays much role in communication per se.

Just one question: How do you propose to make paper feeds for your telegraph system? I freely admit that I don't know much about telegraph, and for me morse code is insanely complicated. But shouldn't the paper move somehow?

She wasn't attacked, or rather, it is inconclusive (might have been her perception when drowning). The point is, you apparently need Stormlight to control aspects of Shadesmar, like making a raft. Otherwise, you'd just be in a sea of beads, which should act like quicksand, and well... That is kind of stupid end.

Read first 1.5 books, and then they... lost me, I guess, which is rare (only happened one or two other times that I can remember). Didn't really like them, not sure why. Maybe the cliches, or dust acting more and more bizarrely, or the fact that the daemons stop transforming. The first book was ok... barely.

It has my name right And it does define part of me since I partially act as I perceive it Of course "volod" is close to "own" over "rule", but both will do

Once upon a time (about 8 years ago), I've decided I was on the 'net long enough to have a nickname. I wanted it to me japanese, to start with (S), and to have meaning. And so it came to be~ I thought about satsuki first, but father told me it was a girls name. Anyway, satsu is a book counter in japanese, oni is a demon/ogre, so there. 冊鬼

Well, this particular revelation (now here in full), haven't changed my mind much. Although maybe a little Essentially, it is possible that Roshar people don't have "Innate Investiture". That may seem weird (and probably is), but that would mean that they don't get born with a part of themselves that is of shard per se, or can be used as a connection to shard naturally, and have to do something to get that connection. I stand by my limited/unlimited types of investiture, with the unlimited types (like Breaths) cycling their power as it is expended. And.. I'll probably write more when I am awake.

One must also consider that "there are metals that every allomancer can burn", from Q&A, I think. (Although not atium, weirdly enough. It may be that Atium only had mistings while it replaced temporal metals like bendalloy, and now that the table is complete it can be burned by anybody. Or not (speculating here)). What was the name for Malatium mistings, anyway?

I do hope so.. Maybe I should ask Peter.

By belief is shattered Quote from WoA: And yet: What?

/me froths at the mouth. Must have... Must check internet for other leaks

Well, the best thing that comes to my mind now is that you essentially shove your attribute out of time, and then reach and get when you need it, there fore "shuttling" it over a certain time span.

Um well, I am still not convinced, since it makes two full metalminds so vastly different. I do, however, think that there are quanta of storage, perhaps per-atom, I just don't think they are different. Memories can be stored as bits and bytes, after all, so there need only be 2 kinds (possibly as stored/unstored). Oh, and I am reading your theory. It seems sound enough And my opinions diverge somewhat (mostly in the relative importance and closeness of the realms). Now, mass. It is known that each object has 3 masses: inertial, gravitational active and passive, which are usually one and the same, but it is still not proven that it is always so Still, gravitational masses govern power of the spiritual link. Why not say that inertial mass governs power of spiritual connection to other objects, like how much that object can affect others? I really need to formulate my own theory Closer to topic: My modification of the gateway theory : multiple gateways (sorry if it was mentioned. I skimmed some posts ). Instead of one big gateway, metal consists of many small gateways. When you burn metal, some of them open. How much you pull (or maybe, how much you get, with some energy being lost between you and metal), depends on your Allomantic ability. The power destroys gateways, and other ones open in the metal, as long as the metal abides. Flaring forces more power through the gateway, but speeds up destruction (or opens several more gateways with the same result). Feruchemists create gateways as they store power (maybe one per atom cluster), and reset them freeing the energy as they tap it. Burning them give the same kind of energy, but mor of it, destroying the metal instead of resetting the gateway. Memories can be stored as full/empty gateways, or gateways with different power. (A question - what happens if you split coppermind? can you split an image memory into halves?) SO, well, that is how I think of that anyways.

@Voidus: Ah, good quote. OK. Mass, but not quite physical mass. With gravity being based upon Spiritual connection, what does mass in cosmere even mean? @Kurkistan: So, are you of opinion that a full metalmind filled over 10 years is inherently weaker than the same metalmind filled over one day? Because that is what that would mean... And the quote from Brandon can just as well be interpreted as nonlinear dependency, like t=C/(p^al), where t is time, C is charge in the metalmind, p is added power (say, added strength percentage), and al>1 (is feruchemical weakness). @above - you can tap and store at the same time. Otherwise Compounding probably won't work, since compounder has to store excess from burning a metal while tapping it. (IMO) The gateway-forming theory is a good one, I think. Brandon said, that feruchemists, in effect, make a new metal when they store attribute. Apparently, that metal is different enough for feruchemists that they cannot use storage from another, unless their, let's say, spiritual fingerprint is close enough.

@Kurkistan : I was never in agreement about this whole "surging" debacle (in particular, the "rate of filling vs rate of pulling", since the interpretation in your post implies that there is some fundamental difference in the full metalmind filled at different rates, while there is nothing in the books to indicate this. Rather, I always though about it as non-linear relationship: 1 full mm - 3 hours double, 7 hours at 1.5 , 1 hour quadruple kind of thing. @Dyring. I rather agree with your theories. Of course, that still doesn't answer the question of what happens if you have 3 people's worth of feruchemy in the spike, and spike a ferring (of the same attribute). Will it become end-positive? There was a discussion somewhere about that... @Millenium: Shards can affect their magic systems, some more some less. The combination of Shard and the world, as well as the sDNA of the created people give rise to a particular system. There was a quote somewhere... Also, nowhere is the level of experience/power for Feruchemist mentioned like that, iirc, all Feruchemists were quite able to store most (or all) of their weight, and there was nobody with half that ability. @Odium_Shard: Mass... Well, they don't actually store mass, you know. They store weight, or, if you want, spiritual connection to other objects. It was mentioned by Sazed (unreliable, of course), but not really mass. At least, they don't seem to lose density per se. So the point of zero mass does not apply... Also, there are 3 masses per object anyway. Sorry for muddled post, too sleepy.