Unlicensed Hemalurgist

Murder on the Silverlight Express?...

PROOF: Have you ever snapped a brick of instant noodles in half? You get little noodle-shards all over the place. And if you're depressed enough that you're making ramen first thing in the morning, it's way more dramatic to call them "Dawnshards" than "Noodleshards." THEORY: Hoid isn't just one person; he's a bunch of identical siblings, each embedded on different Shardworlds. Like the Nurse Joys in Pokemon.

Hey all. So this is a quick speculation thread based on some stuff I was thinking about in the shower after re-reading Elantris and some WoBs about nicrosil. The way interplay between all these different forms of Investiture is hinted at is fascinating. I've been a casual poster here for a while, but this is my first foray into actual speculation. If what I'm saying has any spoilers in it (I don't think it does, but I could be wrong), feel free to mark it as such. Also, I'm not really up-to-date on the latest Realmantic lingo, so bear with me. Anyway, as far as I'm aware, Feruchemical Nicrosil stores Investiture. In terms of Scadrial magic systems, this usually means storing the Investiture an Allomancer or Feruchemist uses to fuel their other abilities, with the ability to tap it at a greater rate to get more of that power over a shorter duration. However, we know from various WoBs that a nicrosilmind can stor other forms of Investiture from other worlds, including Divine Breaths from Nalthis or the ability to use the Surges of the Knights Radiant (whether this refers to storing the Nahel bond or Stormlight is unclear). We also know that in Selish magics, the Dor is heavily linked to location, because of the Dor being essentially the shattered corpses of two gods dumped in the Cognitive Realm by Odium. This means there is a sharp drop-off in the power of Selish magics the farther they get away from their particular region-- most notably in AonDor and Forgery, with the Dakhor monks being a little better at this, for currently-unknown reasons. So my hypothetical is this: Let's say I have nicrosilmind--whether I'm an actual Soulbearer or just using an unsealed nicrosilmind is an irrelevant distinction at this stage. If I were on Sel, could I store Investiture from the Dor in my nicrosilmind and take it with me, to fuel Selish magic with it? If I were an Elantrian or Dakhor monk on another world, could I tap that nicrosilmind to increase the power of my Aons/Bone-twisties to the level they would be closer to home? A sort of Dor-battery or Dor-transformer? Or is there something I'm missing in my analysis. Be gentle.

Cultivation, perhaps? I understand she's a little... preoccupied, what with the LAst Desolation and all, but she's the only Shard we know of whose Intent matches all or most of your stipilations. It's possible.

Even if you could somehow make your arm into a Lifeless, how would you benefit at all from that? It's not going to be any stronger than your natural arm, it's gonna start rotting without regular maintenance that you body used to do on its own, and it's just gonna be incredibly disturbing to look at in general. I mean it's an interesting question within the confines of the BioChromatic magic system, I guess, but EW.

THEORY: The Stormfather sent Dalinar visions, and visions are of the Voidbringers, and the Voidbringers are of Odium. It all fits! PROOF: Gemmel wasn't crazy or touched by Ruin; he was a worldhopper and Khriss' assistant before Nazh, trying to learn more about how godmetals alloyed. Poor guy was just a little awkward.

Italian greyhounds are a buncha dang ninjas:

If it makes you feel any better, nobody really knows how to write. We just write, and learn through trial and error whether something works or not. A lot of beginning writers (myself included) tend to fall into what my friend calls the "inspiration trap," i.e., not writing until we feel "inspired" to do so. Thing is, the only way to be a productive writer is not to wait for inspiration or to "feel like” writing. You are what you do, and the only way to become a writer is to shove all your worries aside and just write. The biggest mistake that most people make is not acting until we “feel like” it. It's just a sign of weak character to say "I have agreed to do X, therefore, I have a duty to be honest to myself and follow through” and then require some additional motive—some kind of “inspiration” or “feeling”— to actually do it. I have this problem, and it was killing me until I decided to get more organized and disciplined. At this stage in your writing career, the most important thing you can do is build up self-discipline by actually getting words on a page. And whatever you write, make sure it's honest. Not in the sense that everything in it is literally factual, but in the sense that you're not pretending to be someone you're not. Readers can spot insincerity a mile away. Not all honest writing is good, but all good writing is honest. Hope this helps, I dunno.

So much beef in this Shardcast it gave me the meat sweats. Nicely done, everyone. Please. P A T R I C I A N S only say "yinz."

Interesting you'd even bring that up. When I read that I assumed that this was the soldier laying into the Gatherers themselves rather than an actual Death Rattle, like the Shin guy who refused to tell the Gatherers what he was seeing, or the "Healer-why-do-you-take-my-blood" guy. I mean, even the Gatherers thought it was iffy.

I was about to agree that Zane is my least favorite, but in retrospect I'd have to say it's a toss-up between Zane, Lift, and Shallan. Zane serves literally no purpose in Well of Ascension other than instigating a dull and predictable love triangle subplot. The only interesting thing about him is Ruin. Lift is one of the most irritating characters I've ever read. Everything about her grates on my nerves like sheet metal dragged down a gravel driveway. As for Shallan, I simply find her chapters irritating and I can't relate to her as a character. She was the reason I stopped reading Words of Radiance.

Nightblood absolutely stole the show, IMO.

Man, old-school Bionicles were awesome. I always liked the concept of the Kanohi Olisi, the Mask of Alternate Futures worn by Karzahni. The 2007 Mahri Nui sets were the bomb, what a great year. Anyone ever entered a Bionicle OC in a contest? Back in 2005 I remember entering that contest for the Dark Hunters book. I didn't win because I was only 12 and had no idea what I was doing, but that OC's the only Bionicle creation of mine I've actually kept intact. I'm really proud of it, and every once in a while I take it out and tinker with it. I'll post a recent picture as soon as I can find it. WATCH THIS SPACE

A USB flashdrive from high school I have in my drawer, on which I still have several embarrassing political tracts and even more embarrassing love poems I wrote. It's a reminder of how far I've come from my socially awkward past. I will NEVER go back.

I'll go with the classic answer: a lightsaber. Maybe one with a metal folding blade on the other end for situations where the light and noise of a lightsaber blade might be impractical.

I think you just introduced suspended animation into the Cosmere.

Star Wars Legacy of the Force: Revelation

I rarely upvote. As far as I'm concerned, having only 16 upvotes to give out per day makes each one rather special. I usually wait for a really good topic.

In this scenario, does Susebron understand the importance of TLR's atium bracers?

Hemalurgy still exists (thank Harmony).

Hemalurgist. Nobody said I had to spike myself, just practice Hemalurgy.

I always pictured Rock as a big, beefy Russian. No idea why.

How can you not love the name Taravangian? It's just so fluttery and arch.

Hmm. Was this before or after Kelsier taught Vin about gold Allomancy, I wonder? As I recall, Kell took a file and shaved off bits of a gold coin for them both to burn. Maybe Vin didn't burn all of that gold and just sort of forgot she had it in her system. Gold wouldn't make you sick unless it had a significant amount of impurities, so she wouldn't have necessarily noticed burning it off.

We don't know anything yet about how Hemalurgy interacts with non-Scadrial magic systems, aside from the fact that it can.