Deus Ex Biotica

... except that while TenSoon is running around with four Attribute Spikes (exactly the same loadout as a Koloss), carrying crucial information for the future of humanity, Ruin did not take control of him. They're resistant, though other factors surely help.

Kandra interact with Hemalurgy totally differently, though. The RPG doesn't have them taking penalties for the spikes in them, and in the novels, they are able to pull their Blessings out while Ruin is at the height of his power. If anything, Kandra are Hemalurgy-secured humans. Rashek designed them well. -- Deus Ex Biotica

Wax actually does fill his Ironminds until he's no longer staying on the ground very well. However, there's really no way to steer without Iron/Steel Alchemy.

That... is incredibly clever and solid. I approve.

I have bought the book, and am certainly not disappointed (I can't wait for the physical copy to arrive). Now I can resume mad theorizing! My first idea is for the Aluminum Trick. This might not be the only way of doing things, but it seems almost certain to be a way to do it. If you are a Keeper (or just use Hemalurgy to gain the right two Feruchemical abilities), you should be able to store Investure, then move it into your Aluminumminds as any Identity you can imagine. This could let you steal from the Metalminds of anyone you understand well enough to make a convincing fake Identity, and make for a terrifyingly convincing actor or con artist, especially if they used the same trick to get someone else's Connection to other people. -- The Ben Freeman

We... don't see much of Spook between his spike's removal and him getting renewed by Sazed. I see nothing obviously controversial about the theory that repeatedly stapling and removing bits of someone else's soul from your own might, potentially, be in some way bad. -- Deus Ex Biotica P.S. Also, I am fairly convinced that trying this with Attribute spikes would kill you outright, as your body tries to reverse its changes.

I would like to point out that we have no indication "Connection" must always be love and benevolence. You could feel very strong anger, distrust, schadenfreude, or any number of other things. Certainly the Feruchemist in the Broadsheet does not seem to suddenly trust the Koloss he taps Connection to not be killed by. -- Deus Ex Biotica

Technically, they would age exactly as fast as other people, but in a faster timestream, yes. I did the math, though, and doing it five times as much as Wayne (who burns through his Bendalloy "like a maniac") still ages you, like, an extra month over the course of your life. Smoking will do a lot more than Benalloy (even five minutes worth is expensive!) ever could. -- Deus Ex Biotica

Wouldn't just filling Connection while he's in his office doing decision stuff have the same effect? He can be connected during elections, and abandon those connections the rest of the time. ... just like a politician, am I right? -- Deus Ex Biotica P.S. This is just standup comedy, and does not reflect my views on any specific politician, except Emperor Nero. That guy was a jerk.

By an amusing coincidence, I find this to be the worst fantasy theme ever. I am deeply relieved that we know a Mistborn will show up in the Second Trilogy, and that magic will continue to define many parts of society in the third. -- Deus Ex Biotica

He made Spook into a Mistborn. He might have been able to do more, had he wanted to - evidently, he doesn't feel the need for that kind of power in the world right now.

I used to think this, too, but it turns out there are wars. Just, wars between Houses, instead. Chromium/Steel is strong, but I still prefer it with Nicrosil. This means it can also be used to aid your allies, and with good timing, an uncontrolled Uberflare can be much worse than just vanishing. Think about the wreck it could make of a Lurcher. -- Deus Ex Biotica

Yeah, I really don't know why Sazed saw the Koloss "race" as worth preserving. Might be the Shards messing with him.

I also strongly recommend to you all the effects of adrenaline, and good old-fashioned heroic resolve. Just because there is magic doesn't mean it's impossible for someone to get a second wind naturally.

I meant that the people being "linked with" lose little bits of their own Spiritwebs, when the cable/spike is removed from them.

Potentially, sure. It all depends on whether the quality of the Spike continues to decay at that point. Which is to say, whether the ruined remains of your own Spiritweb count as "inside a body" for the purposes of Hemalurgic decay. Also, in either case, you are slowly accrueing bits of the Spiritwebs of everyone you use the spike on, and they are losing bits (see the "more human" Koloss, when they recycled spikes). Still - very cool idea! -- Deus Ex Biotica

Well, we know that one. If you don't hit a bind point, you don't steal anything. The effects of reusing the same spike on the Bind Points of multiple people are... less understood, but not quite the focus of the question. -- Deus Ex Biotica P.S. We do know the reusing Koloss spikes resulted in more human Koloss, though, so it seems that one spike can accrue bits of several Spiritwebs.

Well, we know the second trilogy is 50 years post-Alloy. I do not think we know how long before Way of Kings things are in Alloy of Law, but I had assumed it was more than that.

Even an Aluminum Hat Army would be pretty useless, really. It only takes a handful of Copperclouds to hide who the Allomancers are, and the crowds will only get more upset about your attempts to find Rioters/Soother behind their perfectly justified feelings, rather than fixing the problem. And only a few would have to escape the massacre to get all the journalists really angry about the injustices which transpired. Nasty stuff. Moral: never get ALL the emotional Allomancers on the same side of anything. Ever. -- Deus Ex Biotica

Nonsense. Has Brandon Sanderson ever provided a demonstrably stupid character who was featured in more than two scenes? I think that is an art he lacks...

Exactly. Marsh's inner monologue specifically states that he's not taking any effort at all to preserve (if you will pardon the word) the power. All they want is a way to influence lord Penrod. This results in a situation where we have never seen someone who (a) knows anything about Hemalurgy and ( cares about keeping the power in the spike have to transport one any further than from heart to chest. Hence, this theory. -- Deus Ex Biotica

I think I like the idea of Metallic Arts never giving anything "Fabrial-like" for this same reason. It really adds some unique flair to have this space-age civilization... which still, in many ways, relies upon (magical) manpower for its greatest works.

Usually, when I start a thread, I get all high school essay, and try to build a narrative leading up to a thesis, but this one's pretty straightforward: we know that a Hemalurgic Spike loses power over time if it's outside someone's body. And reusing it from one person's Spiritweb to another causes some loss, as well. What about sticking it in someone's body, but not at a bind point? Does it still lose power? More or less than other methods? I doubt that anyone knows for sure, but it seems worthy of discussion. My guess is that this would be the way of transporting a spike with the least (but probably still not zero) loss of energy. -- Deus Ex Biotica

I use A:_________/F:__________. And, yes, always in that order. So, storing memories and seeing a short distance into your own future? Well, here's a needlessly-elaborate trick that could work: 1) Store memories of a lot of different combat skills. 2) Assign a gesture to eachone (do not store these gestures, memorize them the old-fashioned way). 3) In combat, start burning Electrum. The look for the time-shadow who seems to be doing the best, and draw upon the skillset they are using (judging by the gesture they are making as they fight). 4) Repeat steps 1-3, with bomb-disarming skills, pickup lines, etc. for non-combat uses. You'd have to be able to think pretty fast, but it might work. Exactly. Thanks for helping to express that! I agree! Mental Speed, in particular, makes a good Holmes - he would argue that you don't need keen senses to get the data, just an ability to use everything you do see. As such, I might be tempted to make his Allomancy Bronze (for a kind of data you cannot get otherwise), or even Pewter (Holmes is deadly whenever he winds up in a straight fight... and he has to survive all those opiates somehow, right?) instead of Zinc, though the ability of Zinc to make a detective even more observant than Holmes is compelling. -- Deus Ex Biotica P.S. I just thought of a strong use for Bronze Feruchemy - combo it with being a Thug, and suddenly, Pewter Drag is much more manageable.

I have always hoped for this reveal. -- Deus Ex Biotica P.S. Hoid is also clever enough to choose an obvious alias that nobody will guess anyway, if he thinks it's funny.