Trusk'our

I've had several ideas on how one could vastly increase the power of their individual Hemalurgic spikes, 'Supercharging' them, if you will. This would reduce the need for a large number of spikes, but still allow someone to have a massive boost of power. However, I literally just thought of a problem that might occur with this. If you put too much Investiture in a spike, it will gain sapience, or a least a lesser form of sentience, which might cause it to be able to manipulate or even straight up puppeteer you through the hole it makes in your Spiritweb. Normally it takes a truly massive amount of Investiture to bring an inanimate object to life (Nightblood has tens of thousands of times the amount of Investiture as a regular human being), but it might actually be easier to bring a Hemalurgic spike to life than by Awakening an object as it already has a foundation for a personality, an Identity, and spiritual DNA held within it, but that of course is just a hunch.

I meant that you would take multiple duralumin spikes and take different chunks of Spiritweb from the same person after they used some form of Investiture to heal, then smelt them all together. I would assume that since they shared the same metallic composition that they wouldn't have their power made inert. Also, they share the same Identity, so that should help make them compatible too.

I was re-reading Mistborn when I noticed that Clubs is often forgotten by the other characters, and it made me begin to wonder: were Club's powers helping hide him from the other's attention? It's been confirmed that Allomantic copper can hide you from an Awakener's Lifesense, which is an ability that all people in the Cosmere have, with the exception of Drabs. Could an Allomantic copper savant be harder for people to notice because they are hidden from people's natural Lifesense?

Allomantic copper is confirmed to be able to hide you from Seekers, Awakener's Lifesense, and Secretspren. Could it then be used to hide you from the Shades of Threnody? What if they were enraged, and the Smoker only activated their power after then? Could a Smoker break any of Threnody's three rules and not be effected due to their powers?

I read a quote from Brandon Sanderson that it was possible for people to fabricate Spiritwebs (unfortunately, I couldn't find the quote ), so obviously I had to come up with at least a few different ways that it might be accomplished. Also, because I'm me, it mostly involves the use of Hemalurgy. Method 1: Stabbing someone repeatedly. Okay, so Hemalurgy is able to rip off chunks of functional Spiritweb that can be stapled onto another Spiritweb to hotwire the recipient's Spiritweb in such a way that it can access the ability held within the donor's Spiritweb. However, Hemalurgy also takes some other stuff in addition to the power or attribute removed, such as the person's Identity. Therefore, if someone were to use Hemalurgy on someone who could regrow the lost pieces of Spiritweb, maybe they could take from multiple bind points on the Spiritweb, then smelt the spikes together to create a full Spiritweb. Staple that soul onto a viable body, such as that of a Lifeless, and you have copy of that person (presumably). Method 2: Forging a fake soul . . . and then stabbing someone. So, you're not satisfied with simply making a copy of a Spiritweb that already exists, are you? Well, if you could use Selish Forgery to create a Spiritual overwrite, you could that use Hemalurgy to take that and then staple that into a viable body. We already know that it is possible to Hemalurgically spike off a Forgery, so this would likely be an improvement to method 1, as it would cause less damage to the donor and would allow you to create a Spiritweb that you could edit more before creation. Oh, I forgot to mention this, but Hemalurgic duralumin is probably the metal you'd want to use to create your soul, as it focuses specifically on taking Connection and Identity, rather than only taking the dregs of those two attributes.

When you use a Forgery on someone, you overlay their Spiritweb, causing temporary changes to their being. However, we know from a Wob that you can Hemalurgically take the overlay. And then, if you were to Allomanticlly burn the spike, it would splice the changes into your Spiritweb rather than just overlaying them, making them permanent. If you want to take it a step further, you could stamp and spike yourself multiple times, then either burn the spikes individually or smelt them into a single spike and then burn them to possibly get an enhanced result that would normally require more Investiture to create, such as turning yourself into an Allomancer. This is only a theory, obviously, but I think that there is enough evidence that it should be possible.

I would imagine that if you were to stab someone with the intent of Hemalurgy and then you just left the spike there that it would function as Hemalurgic spike normally would, granting them the attribute or power stolen, but at a slightly lesser degree. Also, they would most likely just end up dead, but their body would help keep the spike's Hemalurgic charge from decaying. If they do survive because the bodily warping of the spike is keeping them from dying, then I would imagine they would be much easier to control via emotional Allomancy than normal since they have a large hole in their Spiritweb from the spike and from having a piece of it ripped off.

Hemalurgy can be used to remove chunks of Spiritweb from others, including Spiritweb pieces that allow for magical healing. So, if someone like Kelsier were to use Hemalurgy to rip off the power or Connection that allows for Hoid's magical healing, could he be killed?

Hmm. An interesting question, and one that I would love to answer I also think that Dalinar is a pretty strong contender, due to his Bondsmith abilities, but that is mostly due to the potential of his powers; he doesn't know how to use them very well quite yet. He is also very strong politically, as the king of Urithuru and he has many allies in other kingdoms as well. He is a strategic genius in battle, and an excellent general. He knows how to lead a large group of people effectively as well. He can regenerate physical and spiritual injuries, but still ages in his current state. Hoid would be another good contender as he has thousands of years of experience and knowledge, access to multiple forms of investiture (i.e. Bio-Chromatic Breaths, Allomancy, Surgebinding, Yolish Lightweaving), and he is nearly unkillable due to his unique powers. He lacks the ability to physically harm most beings however, even in the defense of his own life. Vasher has hundreds of years experience, is a master Awakener, and has the ability to go back to Nalthis a retrieve tens of thousands of Breaths from the Hallendren God-King if he should so desire. Not to mention the fact that he could also control all of Hallendren should he want as well. He also helped create the Awakened sword Nightblood, and has the knowledge and potential resources that he could likely replicate the process should he have need. He is biologically immortal so long as he has some Investiture to feed on, and he can't be poisoned or suffer from disease, but other than that he could be killed just as easily as any other human (well, humanish). He also doesn't seem to want to have great power, which holds him back. Kelsier also has hundreds of years experience, is a master Allomancer, and most of Scadrial worships him a deity. He is a Sliver, which provides him with certain unknown benefits, he is a cognitive shadow, which prevents him from aging, and he has found a way to regain a physical body even if killed, not to mention the fact that if he was killed he would be able to persist indefinitely in the cognitive realm unless completely destroyed or until he regains physical form. He is also likely a full Feruchemist as well since he created the Bands of Mourning, and even if he wasn't he likely could create another Unsealed Metalmind that granted those powers. He also has a knowledge of, and willingness to use Hemalurgy. He currently cannot leave Scadrial himself, which is a limitation, but he does have people who travel to other worlds for him to gather information and power. Kelsier craves power and knowledge, pushing to constantly gain more of both, and he is an experienced and charismatic leader. So, I think that Dalinar has the most potential in his current state than any of the others purely due to his Bondsmithing powers. Vasher has a lot of powerful potential as well, and he could likely access it more quickly and easily than Dalinar, but he doesn't seem to want to. Hoid is already very powerful, and we likely have more to see from him, but he has a limiting factor in that he couldn't defend himself as effectively as other people with a similar amount of Investiture from another powerful being, but he also has the whole immortality thing. But honestly, I think that Kelsier is the most powerful person in the cosmere right now, discounting Shards, as he could muster the nearly the entire might of a planet behind him, he's likely already a full Feruchemist on top of being a Mistborn (compounding, am I right?), and he has Hemalurgy at his disposal, which could be very, very dangerous. And he wants to be powerful and dangerous, and already has had hundreds of years to plan out doing so.

Wayne - "IM sO DrUNk I CAn BarELy SeE!"

I was thinking again about combining magic systems when a finally thought to combine Feruchemical Nicrosil with Forgery (for a second time). If a Soulbearer Ferring could store the investiture held within a Forgery stamp, they could do at least two new really cool things. One, while Forgery is normally restricted to a small portion of one specific planet, tapping the investiture of a Soulstamp would likely allow you to gain the effects of said Soulstamp any time, any place, which would be nice, especially for a Worldhopper. The second purpose seems even more powerful though. Assuming that one could store the investiture of a Soulstamp that was not likely to take or that simply required too much Investiture to be normally feasible, such as turning a normal Scadrian into an Allomancer or Feruchemist, you could tap the Nicrosilmind at a quick rate to fuel the effects of the stamp with more Investiture than normally would be granted by regular Soulforgery, which should allow you to benefit from Soulstamps that normally wouldn't take or that wouldn't have enough fuel to function. And if you really wanted to make things interesting, you might be able to manufacture Hemalurgic spikes from such a combination of powers. So anyway, does anyone else have any ideas on how Feruchemical Nicrosil and Soulforgery might be able to be combine to achieve certain effects?

If an Awakener were to meet a Koloss, Kandra, or other Hemalurgic construct of similarly controllable vulnerability, would the Awakener be able to "break" them as they do to Lifeless? Similarly, if a Rioter, Soother, or Mistborn were to encounter a Lifeless, could they control them as they do Hemalurgic constructs?

The theory would also explain why resonances aren't usually generated by Hemalurgy; a resonance is formed by the powers you possess saturating and slightly altering your Spiritweb, but Hemalurgic spikes wouldn't grant that because they are separate from your own Spiritweb, even if they are linked to yours in order for you to gain access to their power.

Me. I needed this. Thank you

You know, I had not considered that. I had always assumed that by getting Hemalurgic spikes stappled to you would be like integrating them to your own Spiritweb, making the traits in the spikes be passed down to future generations. I had mostly assumed this based on the fact that Koloss are able to pass on certain traits granted via Hemalurgy to their children, but if that is only because the Koloss were physically changed enough become a new species, that would make more sense; only the warping of your Spiritweb would be passed down, not the Connections or powers themselves. That would also likely mean that the "complications" related to Steel Inquisitors having children would likely be related to their organs being in the wrong places, not that they would gain any extra powers, which would not be beneficial. Your theories would also be supported by the fact that burning a Hemalurgic spike splices your sDNA with that of the spike, so that likely isn't done simply by implanting the spike into you. Though that does make me wonder; if you were to burn the spikes and splice your sDNA, would that make the powers be more likely to be passed down? Would perhaps some of the complications be that you would physically change appearance to fit with that of the person that the spike was made from, since your spiritual aspect is being actively altered?

That makes a lot of sense. I think that if you have a lot of Breaths you can sense another person's illness via their Bio-Chromatic aura now that I recall, which would support your theory.

I can understand where you're coming from; sometimes it's nice to read about a world that feels truly magical, kind of like Harry Potter.

I would venture to guess that the way the bones got inside the statues wasn't really magical; the "stone" is probably just a kind of concrete.

If someone were to use two different spikes to steal two separate powers from someone else, and the spikes were to strike at exactly the same moment, would both spikes be filled, but be at half power? Or would it turn out like the hypothetical situation where Vin cleaves Kaladin into two perfect halves, and the Investiture only chooses one half to heal, rather than both?

If a Nicroburst Misting were to burn their metal while trying to fill a Hemalurgic spike, would they be able to enhance the process of charging the spike? Perhaps the spike would be charged more efficiently, taking more total Investiture from the target?

I read this quote and it got me thinking. So if the elderly have weaker Breaths, does that mean that your Breaths leak away as you age, contributing to your body breaking down? Could it perhaps be that aging in the Cosmere is a combination of you Connection to your birth time, but also that your innate Investiture leaks away?

The Blessing of Presence could help you resist potentially, but since it is also granted by Hemalurgy it might actually be counterproductive unless you could enhance the amount of Investiture held within the spikes, thereby granting you greater resistance to outside influence. Presumably, burning copper would help protect you as well, since it blocks emotional Allomancy and similar things. I would also bet that tapping determination from an Electrummind would make you more able to break free from being controlled or at least resist the commands from a being that is already controlling you.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but we actually have confirmation that Kelsier isn't possessing Spook. I would venture to guess that the spike is made of duralumin, and was driven through his Cognitive Aspect by someone else (likely Spook) and into his physical remains. Although, all that was left was a skeleton, so there is likely a step or two I'm missing. Perhaps a perpendicularity was involved somehow, bringing his physical remains and Cognitive and Spiritual Aspects together.

Forgot to mention, Syl and Kaladin are now able to telepathically communicate, at least a little bit, due to their Connection. Plus the Bleeder and Wax scene you already mentioned. So yeah, strong enough Connection or Connection plus Hemalurgic spike(s) would allow for a form of telepathy. It could also be neat if all of Bridge Four got Hemalurgic earrings and Unsealed Duraluminminds to form a hive-mind, but their Spren likely wouldn't allow for such a thing, even if they had the resources.

Lol Unfortunately, regular Awakening probably wouldn't allow such a thing. But if one could somehow hack together multiple magic systems, convince Harmony that it must be made, or use a Dawnshard to make it, Wayne would totally be innately drawn to it by his Fortune (because Wayne and magic hat = awesome), and would use it to be himself 800% more effective