Chromium Compounder

Ooh, I like that quote from Brandon. That does put Compounding in a different light. I like this theory, though I don't think it's really what Brandon was thinking of when he came up with the metallic arts. Still, I wonder if we could identify other shards which would correspond with the other metals. So far we have: Preservation - Either Aluminum or Nicrosil (I prefer the Nicrosil theory) Ruin - Electrum The other shards we know of are Endowment, Devotion, Dominion, Honor, Cultivation, and Odium. I've seen references to a couple others, but there weren't names for them, and I never heard anything about powers or intent with them, with the possible exception of the shard that just cares about surviving and staying hidden. Endowment - Pewter (Awakening gives life to things. Pewter gives life to yourself.) Devotion - Duralumin (I subscribe to the belief that the shaod takes those of Aonic blood who show great devotion to something. So the shaod is changing people to give them great power. Duralumin brings extra great power from other metals.) Dominion - Bronze (Seekers were used by the Steel Ministry to hunt down Allomancers. And most Inquisitors began as Seekers. Hemalurgy reminds me of both Dakhor and Bloodsealing, both of which seem more closely related to Dominion than to Devotion to me.) or Brass (Skilled Soothers can practically gain dominion over other people.) Honor - Iron (Ironpulling is like surgebinding (which I've always thought is more strongly related to Honor than any other shard on Roshar) but only for connections between yourself and metal.) Cultivation - Tin, Gold, Bendalloy? (We know less about Cultivation than about the other shards on Roshar, so there's not much to go on. We know Cultivation was good at seeing the future, so that makes me think of the temporal metals, but I could also see Tin as being the closest to Cultivation's powers.) Odium - Chromium (I believe shardblades (and the Thrill) are of Odium (though not Dawnblades, they're of Honor). Shardblades destroy all non-living things they come in contact with, and they shear through the souls of living things. Chromium allows you to destroy the metals of others.) (Nameless survivor shard) - Copper (Though we know next to nothing about this shard, copper clouds are used for hiding allomancy, which makes sense for this shard.) Anyway, like I said, I don't really believe in this theory, but I think it's a fun one.

. What I'm saying is that instead of combining pieces of the different shards to make a new clear lens of adonalsium, what if you could combine pieces of investiture (such as the bead of lerasium) to make something which would give someone investiture like that which would come from adonalsium. Presumably this investiture would change the person in all three realms, and I would expect the powers granted to work fully well on all shardworlds.

I like the theory. It would explain Hoid's bead of Lerasium and why he's avoiding the 17th shard. Another possibility is that he's trying to find a way to gain access to the investiture Adonalsium would grant (the equivalent of Allomancy rather than of the full powers of Preservation). Maybe by combining the Lerasium with equivalent things from the other shards Adonalsium's investiture could be gained. Certainly something to think about.

So, then the question is how do you get a 'rewritten connection to that area'? Doesn't sound simple.

It may be possible to adapt them. Brandon hinted it might be doable, but he didn't come out and say it.Not that I don't think it is possible. I think it is, but doing so would be like puzzling out a new language. I think Brandon put this difficulty in because the geography based magics are SO powerful, and so dynamic. There's pretty much always something that can be done to get past any problem with them, so long as you are good enough with the art.

:'( why can't I have a Lerasium mine? That'd be sweet.No, I don't think I'd be able to win the lottery every day, or anything like that. I figure I'd have to avoid gambling altogether. No one would let me since being twinborn is in the public records. No, I think chromium compounding would mainly be useful in a fight. Lots of what happens in a fight is random, especially when guns are involved. The luck would make things go in my favor. You'd HAVE to be a good shot to hit me, and I wouldn't have to even aim to hit you. Plus chromium's allomantic power would make it hard for any allomancer to go against me, though of course I would have to touch them while they were burning their metal. Lots of fun ideas, and I think it would make a great story (kind of a twist on Mat Cauthon), but given the choice of any shard power I actually choose Forgery, as I said earlier.

I've always called the face in the storms Stormfather. I figure it must be a spren, and most likely of Honor. I think of the storms, and the spren in them, as being Roshar's version of the mists or the shaod, meant to help those with their related shards investiture to get access to their power.

Yeah, I could see the second generation Kandra rebelling, and those that followed them. They didn't care about the true purpose of their people.

Is that in HoA? It's been a while since I've read that one. I'm currently going through the series again, and I just finished WoA. I remember him recognizing that the shards were once together and wondering about how they came apart, but I don't remember the name Adonalsium. The first place I saw it in any of the books was when Hoid (as Wit) mentioned it to Dalinar. I'd heard of it by then from talking to people, but I figured they'd got it from something Brandon said in an interview or something. Speaking of the Kandra, do they exist anymore? I thought at the end of HoA they all turned back into Mistwraiths.

In particular, does he know about the other Shards and shardworlds? In HoA when we're in his head at the end he is limited in how much he's able to learn and figure out. Presumably the other Shards were all present when Adonalsium was fractured, and we know they can world hop, but what if Harmony had no way of knowing the other Shards and shardworlds were even out there? Has anyone heard anything about this?

I would actually choose Forgery, which wasn't an option. AonDor is big and flashy, while Forgery is quiet and subtle. I'd rather be a nice quiet Forger, carefully and quietly forging the world around me into a better version of itself, and making myself a number of essence marks to give myself the strengths and skillsets of a dozen different people.

Cool. I did a search before I posted, but didn't see anything which really answered it.

I'm rereading Mistborn: TFE right now. During the scene when Vin is testing the idea of trying to burn one of Sazed's metalminds, which is so close to compounding. She can't access the energy she can feel in his metalmind which is different from the regular energy from the metal, but she can feel it, which is what Sazed says Feruchemists feel if they try to tap each others metalminds. Hence the need to be both a Feruchemist and an Allomancer with the same metal in order to compound. While I was thinking about all of that I began thinking about Hemalurgy. Hemalurgy doesn't care who the energy belongs to. In fact it's all about stealing the powers of one person to give them to someone else. So that made me wonder what would happen if an Allomancer were to burn a Hemalurgic spike. I see four possibilities: First is that there would be no affect outside of regularly burning the metal. This makes a certain amount of sense because Hemalurgy is such a complicated art. Spikes can store many things, and can be used in many ways with widely varying effects, but I seem to remember that those effects are partially to do with how the spikes are placed in the body. It's quite possible that the burning process wouldn't qualify for any use of a spike. Second is that the Allomancer would gain an extremely powerful version of the ability within the spike, but they would only last as long as they continue burning. I see this one as very possible as well. It feels like compounding does, but instead of granting a powerful attribute it grants a powerful ability. Unfortunately it would be rather difficult to use a newly gained ability while burning the spike. If it was an ability you already had, like say it was a pewter spike which held the ability to burn pewter, then burning it would turn you temporarily into Chuck Norris' little brother, but if it held a feruchemical ability then it would be pretty worthless because you'd have to store your strength while you were burning the spike and then draw the strength while burning the spike. Third is that the Allomancer would permanently gain the ability within the spike. It would be like they're spiked, without being spiked. Personally, this is my favorite option, but I see less reasons to back it up. Fourth is that it would have some other effect. Again my mind is drawn to the wide variety of things which can come from Hemalurgy based on how it's used. If this is a valid way to use a hemalurgic spike the result could be something completely different from granting the ability which is within the spike. Any other ideas?

Oh, and I had the honor of meeting Brandon in person at last year's WorldCon in Reno.

Hi, I'm Chromium Compounder. I've been reading Brandon's books since just after Mistborn:TFE came out. He quickly jumped up to be one of my two favorite authors (I bounce back and forth between Brandon and Jim Butcher being my favorite.). I've read all of his stuff, and I always look forward to what he's got on the horizon. I didn't hear about Hoid until I was starting Way of Kings, and one of my friends mentioned him to me. Now when I have time to read I'm going back through the other books and looking for him. I love that he has all of his main books taking place in the same universe, the Cosmere. I think that's so awesome. I'm an amateur author. I've written three novels so far, but none of them were really good enough to publish (although I've read some books that I know aren't as good as some I've written. Not Brandon's stuff, mind you, but still). I'm currently working on one that I think has the potential to be worth publishing, but I only have time to write when I'm not busy with work, or my family. I'm married and have three kids (5, 3, and <1), so between all that and the occasional writer's block my writing isn't going as fast as it used to. Still, I love writing, especially world building. World building is actually how I got into writing. I've been world building since I was about fifteen when I first got into fantasy and sci fi. So, that's me. I picked the name Chromium Compounder because I think that'd be about the coolest thing ever. I'd rather be a Chromium Compounder than a Gold Compounder. I'd carry a gun with lots of ammunition, but I'd never bother learning to aim. I'd avoid gambling so I wouldn't get noticed and tick people off. I'd occasionally decide to go mining for extra money because I'd be sure to hit gold or some other precious metal after only a couple feet of digging wherever I decided to dig. So, hi!

Oops, you're right. I read through them real quick because I was more interested in the Feruchemical ability of Chromium. Still, it would be nice to never need to fear other Allomancers. Just leech their metals away and then keep firing your gun in their general direction. I was thinking about it some more and decided I'd avoid gambling or anything that would make the good fortune too obvious. People would catch on and get ticked. I'd earn money as a law man, or perhaps as a miner. Just pick a random spot to dig. I'd be sure to strike gold or some other precious metal within a few feet of digging.

I was just thinking about AoL and decided to look up all the different types of Twinborn and found this thread. Lots of good ideas, but I was surprised that nobody specifically mentioned Chromium Compounders. I think that would be even more terrifying than Gold Compounders. If I were a Chromium Ferring I'd always be nervous to fill a Chromium Mind very quickly, even if I was sitting at home in bed. If your fortune gets bad enough then maybe your furnace will explode and burn you alive before you can stop filling the mind. If you're a Chromium Compounder though. Allomancers would always be terrified of you because you could burn your Chromium to force them to uber-flare their metals. Lots of metals you could easily kill yourself if you're not expecting it to happen, and even if you do get through it unscathed, you lost your metals. And nobody would be able to touch you because you'd constantly have the best luck. I wouldn't bother learning to aim a gun. Just point in the general direction you want to shoot, and it'll work itself out.