Trusk'our

You know, even with the power Hemalurgy can grant, I don't see many people willing to accept relatively large pieces of shrapnel inserted into their bodies. It feels like even if it is deemed "necessary" by Era 3 sometime that there will be significant pushback. It makes me wonder though, Koloss culture already revolves around piercing yourself with spikes to keep it going. Would they be more willing, perhaps even eager, to accept new types of spikes? And, even if better power-granting alternatives exist past Era 3 (as I'm sure Metalminds will eventually do, at least in the majority of cases), I wonder if a subset of Koloss will stubbornly refuse to use more modern methods of Investiture. . . which, ironically, sounds like a mindset more of Preservation than of Ruin. Bet the Shard would be frustrated with that.

Personally, I think Kel would be more likely to try mimicking Mishram's shenanigans and jump into Harmony's Well, only to find that the Ruinous portion breaks off to make him an outlet and Avatar of that power. But, we'll have to wait and see how his goals evolve in Era 3.

Almost certainly. Color is typically a good indicator of what Shard an Investiture belongs to. Yes, though it seems likely you'd need to spike them in whatever Realm they have the most substance. Probably the Cognitive Realm, for most.

You know, Sazed- the Vessel, not the actual Shard- I think would fit Autonomy's Intent very well. Maybe even better than Bavadin, which could secretly be part of the reason she wants him gone in particular. He wants people to have the freedom to choose, to have their own agency even if he disagrees with their personal actions. That feels like a more legitimate interpretation of Autonomy than Bavadin's, though I suppose this is subjective. Anyway, I'm not sure he'll become a true triple Shard, but I suspect he'll at least grab some of Autonomy through an Avatar of hers since she spreads them like weeds. That could make Harmony into a more stable version of Discord, perhaps. One that could pose a legitimate threat to Retribution in Era 4. Speaking of which, Taravangian actually seems the most likely to grab more power given his mindset. He loved the merger of Honor and Odium, dismissing Rayse's concerns. He might have to take his time and be sneaky due to the other Shards' attention now, but I think it unlikely he wouldn't seek more to add to his collection.

Compounding works by overwriting the "frequency" that Allomantic Investiture normally uses, providing you with more Feruchemical power instead. I think, then, that Compounding would only contribute to the Feruchemical part of building a Resonance since it's using Feruchemy's frequency, not Allomancy's. Miles, for example, would burn gold for its Allomantic component only on occasion- not like how Wax uses both steel and iron on a regular basis, or even Wayne with his in bursts. I suspect that Miles' Resonance would be really weak or functionally non-existent. Other Compounders who use both elements, like double steel, would probably not have this issue.

Radiants are able to grow in power as they swear oaths, becoming more in line with their Shards' Intent and gathering more Investiture. Similary, Sand Masters can grow in power through Overmastery. I wonder though, are these growths of Investiture relegated only to certain MoI, or do others do this too? We now have two examples of very, very old Cognitive Shadows growing in power over time. The Yoki-Hijo, over nearly two millenia, were able to grow significantly in Investiture. Over the millenia the Heralds were able to eventually "draw on the powers of Roshar" completely separate from Tanavast's meddling. I believe that these growths of Investiture in both groups are due to them having tremendous experience welding the power, honing skill and being shaped by its Intent, which naturally increases Connection to and saturation by that very power as a side effect. So, does this hint that all Investiture uses may develop more over time? Allomantic Savantism may allow for small increases in total Investiture- not much for a standard human lifetime, but some Scadrians aren't limited by this. Perhaps TLR, over a thousand years of near constant use of Allomancy, grew in Allomantic power until he was in the state we see in TFE. Could Marsh be adding to his spikes' Investiture over three and a half centuries? What about Vasher? Awakening doesn't draw from an external pool like the others, so I'm not sure how it would interact, but maybe his Innate Investiture could expand over the centuries as he consumes Breath and Light? (I'm far less confident about the last one, especially since he should be easily aware of this growth and its implications and hasn't mentioned it).

For me it's TLR. Mistborn being my first Cosmere book, I had very limited information about him and what could be expected via the magic yet, but his presence being a massive overlying threat made me fear constantly for Kelsier, Vin, Sazed, and the rest of the crew. How were they supposed to kill a millenia old demigod who'd regenerate from any injuries? The Steel Inquisitors alone were terrifying and I didn't know how they'd be beaten at the time. Their master was sure to be far worse. I really loved him as a bad guy. Nobody's come remotely close to feeling the danger as Rashek has.

Well, yes, it's just that it's been one of our only sources to determine the general areas that powered spikes can go. I hadn’t considered very much that temporal or spiritual bindpoints might be in the head because we had little evidence for it (the one exception being Vin's earring as a mental quadrant power). To me at least this felt like a discovery, though maybe just a small one. I hadn’t looked at accupuncture before, no. I know Hemalurgy's inspired by it, but I didn't really feel it a reliable enough connection to make good theories on where spikes go. Good points. Thanks! I appreciate it. Given Vin had a functional earring for a mental power in the general area Inquisitors reserve for physical powers, I'd probably guess now that there are just more functional bindpoints for powers than utilized up to this point. There's also just a possibility that Connection is a simple enough attribute that there is less possibility for it to go wrong- if it's just a bridge between to organisms, it's probably easier to staple on anywhere than, say, the spiritual version of a liver. Maybe, maybe. I have a harder time with this concept, as it's my current belief that the contents of the spike matter far more than the material of said spike. If you wanted to add an arm to human, you'd graft it onto the ribcage for the necessary support, not the foot. But, Trellium specifically has extra functions, like protecting from external influences, so maybe it's different for Godmetals.

You know, I was struck by something odd and re-checked my copy of TLM. Marasi pulls out Set bad guy's spikes, including a Trellium spike. All of which are embedded in the ribs. Later, Wax makes an earring from the Trellium, which seems to Connect him to Telsin, Autonomy's almost-Avatar on Scadrial. According to the Inquisitor table, there are no physical powers "between the ribs" as Marasi describes the Cycle's, but there are only physical power bindpoints around the head and shoulders. Now, Trellium seems to mimic Atium's ability to steal any power, but wouldn't the bindpoint to plug in those abilities still matter? I can think of an explanation for this in a few ways: 1 either the Connection element is solely tied to the Metal's intrinsic properties and just automatically Connects you to Autonomy regardless of the power's functionality, 2 perhaps the bindpoints for the power or powers granted by Trellium were simply more flexible than most, 3 the Inquisitor table doesn't reliably tell which Realmatic bindpoints fit into which general section of the body- even if the upper body is used primarily for physical attributes by Inquisitors, other attributes can be slotted into other bindpoints on the upper body too. Which, given Vin's Seeker earring, perhaps this is the case and the Cycle's Trellium spike held A-bronze or some other power that fit there. Thoughts on this?

Welcome to the Shard! Which of the three Metallic Arts is your favorite to read about, which do you love to theorize on most, and which do you think will have the greatest impact on the Cosmere as a whole ?

Given Navani's latest attempts to tame Spren, I wonder, could individual Lesser Spren begin to evolve into more unique beings? Like, let's say an artist attracts a Creationspren every time they doodle. They take note of it, pleased at its mimicry, then try directly copying its depiction of their art. The Spren changes more based off of the attention they're given, adapting further over time. Eventually, assuming the artist recognizes the Spren over a long enough period of time, will it develop more of a unique Identity? Identity is tied to appearance (as the tamed Flamespren and Taln show us in WaT), but Identity also seems to bring with it greater cognition and autonomy. So, how far will it go? Will it incorporate little bits of Investiture over time into itself to match its growing Identity, maybe become a unique True Spren eventually? Or, what if an individual Lesser Spren sticks with a group, maybe a guild, gang, or family. If many members of the group put a lot of thought into the Spren, will it stick around more and help them in small ways? Maybe the Spren will adapt over generations? It'd be kinda cool if an army learned to incorporate Spren as a direct weapon this way, carrying Stormlight with them so the Spren could activate their abilities (like how Lifespren can use Stormlight and the right Rhythm to grow plants, maybe they could help heal the wounded, or maybe Flamespren could zip out and burn the enemies of the army, or Windspren deflect incoming arrows).

Well, Raysium is a Godmetal, automatically checking it as a candidate for Hemalurgy- probably Ruin's version, at least. Dragonsteel is almost certainly a type of physical Investiture, making me think it'd be in a similar boat. Tamu Keks are probably already Invested, given their communication abilities, so. . . maybe? I'd think it'd be harder though at the very least, depending on their Investiture levels. The sunhearts in TSM actually seem to be in a similar boat to Hemalurgy already, come to think of it. Charred creation is probably Realmatically close to Hemalurgy at least, given the Cinder King's ability to control Charred, needing to implant the Cinderheart in the body to gain its power, and the general damage said Cinderheart does to its host.

Fullborn are pretty busted. That's been made clear in 17th Shard discussions time and time again. There are limits to their power, however. While they can Compound, their Metalminds have finite space for Investiture. Allomantically, they would be limited to their natural Investiture or perhaps their Nicrosilminds if those are capable of augmenting powers- Rashek was only so Allomantically powerful because of his WoA shenanigans. But, what if a Fullborn or someone with tools to make themselves Fullborn wanted to surpass these limitations, making themselves even more powerful? The first step would be to gather Allomantically viable metals. Tons of them, enough to forge a monumentally large Metalmind after the manner of the BoM. This part would be significantly easier with Soulcasting, but it isn't necessary. After creating a suitable vessel, the Fullborn then begins the process of Investing it through Compounding and Allomantic duralumin to speed it along. Simultaneously, they Feruchemically tap Connection, either to themselves, their own Identity, or something along those lines. We know such a process has a notable effect, as Brandon is planning on it being used at some point. Basically, the hope is to have a humongous Metalmind filled to the brim with Investiture, then Connecting the whole thing to yourself in a permanent manner. You might be able to use the Connection to tap the Metalmind remotely, but this is no guarantee, and given Radiant bonds being limited by distance I find it a very cumbersome limitation. So, your next step will be to open a Perpendicularity and shove it into the SR, where space and distance don't matter. This should actually be pretty easy, as the Metalmind is so Invested already that it should begin the process of Realmatic transition by the simple virtue of existing. You might need to flare metals or something as a Fullborn to finish the job (which seems plausible with enough Allomancy, given TenSoon's/Sazed's thoughts on Fullborn teleportation in TLM). Anyway, this leaves you with a large chunk of Investiture keyed and Connected to you in the SR. Navani's bond to the Sibling was weakened by Realmatic separation, but not severed, and given the correct circumstances they were able to still communicate (when Navani spoke with the Sibling via the Tones). It might take some extra fiddling, but these are the basic steps I think a Fullborn could take to obtain something akin to Avatar-hood without direct Shardic intervention. Little limitation on Metalmind size or bulk, the ability to tap or plug in extra-powerful Nicrosilminds, no worries of physical separation from Metalminds, and if you can set up the Metalmind to feed off of the Investiture in the SR directly (a whole nother beast, but still a great opportunity), even more free power completely separate from metal consumption. There's still some limitations with this idea, even if it were to work- Shards, specifically Ruin and Preservation, can probably tamper with your Metalmind more easily and the disruption of the Connection between you and the Metalmind could leave you vulnerable like Telsin in TLM. But all in all, if it worked it would basically be an upgrade to all of a Fullborn's standard abilities with no downsides as far as I can tell (except, you know, hyper-Savantism or Intent corruption).

In WaT, Honor comments that the Heralds were wearing thin not only because of age, but because they held to much of his power. I was under the impression that more Investiture was a good thing for beings. More Bio-Chromatic Breaths, higher Heightening. More Preservation, better Allomancy. Even holding a Shard and letting it go seems to have only benefits, leaving you a Sliver. Is it because they'd become corrupted by Honor's Intent? Or, is it because Tanavast's "losing of himself" hurt the Heralds like how Ishar's drawing in of Odium’s Perpendicularity did later through the Oathpact? Any ideas on this? I found it rather confusing.

It's been proposed before that a Hemalurgic construct might be able to store more of certain Feruchemical attributes, like how a Koloss has vastly more strength to stow away in a Pewtermind (though there's been questions on whether the spike's Identity interferes too much for this). I wonder though, why not just cut out the middleman and just hook an Unsealed Metalmind to a Hemalurgic spike? We've seen that inanimate objects like airships can be rigged to store certain Feruchemical attributes like weight, so if a spike contains something like physical strength, could that be continuously filling a Pewtermind on its own? Or, maybe instead of spiking yourself with stolen Allomantic or Feruchemical power, you have it siphoned off into an Unsealed Nicrosilmind to tap later. We know Identity doesn't prevent Unsealed Metalminds from storing other's attributes, so neither should spike Identity. We don't know how easy it is to tap another's stores via Unsealed Metalmind yet, but given the existence of the South's Brassminds I don't think it's too difficult an obstical.

Wax is really cool, and before Kal became a Herald I might have given him a chance depending on environmental and equipment advantages. But Kaladin is functionally immortal now, has even stronger Surgebinding, may have Bondsmithing, and has whatever else Heralds can do- some of which seems to mimic Steelrunning, arguably the most dangerous Metalborn ability. Even if Wax had the Bands fully charged and in his possession, he'd be really, really hard pressed to pull a win.

If it worked at all I'd assume it would depend on the Command used and the skill of the Awakener. Like, a Command to "be my strength" would function like a Koloss's iron spike.

Is this the one you're referring to? My thinking was that you wouldn't try to Awaken a pre-Invested spike, but that you'd try to Awaken an organic material with the Intent of using that Bio-Chroma as the Hemalurgic power. Then you get an effect you can give to others, but it can be retrieved and moved around after they pass or it is given back. Perhaps they were trapped/pinned Secretspren, which are known for detecting Investiture use. Those are of Odium, so gemstones holding them would probably have a Voidlight appearance. I don't know if raw Investiture can be used to augment a Spiritweb in that way. . . Maybe if it worked by picking up on what was already present in that bindpoint it could, maybe a little like the experimental Set spikes. But even those were harvested from human Spiritwebs. I hadn’t thought of that before, but perhaps it could work. Definitely need more examples before I'm confident about it though. I think the splicing half does that automatically. If you modify your Spiritweb to change its "shape" to include both the Spiritweb of the medium and of the Spiritweb of the Spren/human/Investiture I think your PR self would automatically adapt to its presence as well.

We now have our first example of an exotic spike as of WaT- one that relies on crystal instead of metal. This feels pretty big to me, as Ruin's focus for Investiture is the sixteen metals used for all Metallic Arts. So at this time I find it unlikely that the Shard of Ruin is being used in Moash's eye spikes. Instead, I suspect that Hemalurgy has two distinct processes. The first is to Invest a physical medium, such as a spike, and the second is to actually graft that Investiture to another being's Spiritweb via the PR. If this is the case, then I suspect what Battar learned to do was to either capture Spren inside a spike-shaped gemstone or to pin Spren with such spikes to be used in grafting onto human Spiritwebs. Either way, I don't currently think Ruin’s Shard was involved, but instead just the Rosharan Realmatics between Spren and gemstones. If this holds true, it makes me think that other exotic types of spikes could be used to splice Spiritwebs. Perhaps an Awakened piece of bone or ivory whittled into a spike could be used, provided the Command used to Invest it shaped a functional Spiritweb. Or, perhaps if a Metalmind was twittled with enough to develop a basic Spiritweb it could become a viable Hemalurgic spike, the ability granted depending on the attribute stored. Whatever the case, I think more now that Ruin is just the facilitator for the initial Investment of Scadrian spikes, not necessarily the use of them. Perhaps the metals used on Scadrial don't even strictly need certain bindpoints- if the metal helps focus what is Investing the spike, then it's probably just the contents of the spike that matter for the placement (though this probably changes little for Scadrian Hemalurgy, which have metals focusing what is taken, it would be of greater importance to exotic spikes that don't have those focuses).

This seems like a very plausible use for Hemalurgy, at least for the power transference aspect. Perhaps you could remove and implant small spikes with a kind of spring-loaded device lined with aluminum to prevent spike decay.

There could certainly be advantages to that. I think, at the very least, having a Coppercloud to reduce powerful external influences would be useful for mitigating the flaw, though aluminum hats seem to already help with that. There might be some wiggle room for highly Invested Ruinous beings to sidestep aluminum and control Hemalurgic constructs regardless because their spikes Connect them to Ruin directly, but that's just a hypothesis with little evidence (my one foundation being that Paalm didn't just get aluminum-lined bones or a full set like MeLaan and had to rely on individual Trellium spikes). Still, any extra protection would be nice for a Hemalurgist just in case. The other useful component would be using a Coppercloud to mask your use of multiple powers. Drawing attention for Soothing, Coinshot-ing, and Thugging out all at once is unwise, in my opinion.

Personally I'd say double nicrosil. Sure, their actual powers are somewhat limited in direct interactions, but with several plausible feedback loops to grab heaps of Investiture, I think they'd be capable of some cool stuff by sheer quantity over quality.

I thought I heard somewhere that the Cosmere RPG material, specifically Investiture uses, should be treated canonical for the books. It this actually true, or another fanciful interpretation of my twisted psyche?

Ah man, being sick sucks. Hope you recover quickly! I think tin would be a good candidate for helping along gold storage, at least psychologically. Electrum would also be helpful for the above. I don't know that zinc would be particularly helpful here. It doesn't fast forward time to the Feruchemist, it just makes parsing the meaning of things harder. So I guess storing mental speed would be useful while on bedrest, but it wouldn't ease the discomfort of it I believe. I actually think brass might be extremely powerful for storing health. Since Feruchemy protects its user from the direct harm of over tapping, giving yourself a super-fever occasionally might help you purge foreign microbes.

In the Cosmere, an Avatar is a semi-independent portion of Investiture split off from a Shard. It can exist and act of its own accord, but it can ultimately be overwritten and controlled by the Shard. So, by this ruling, is a Metalmind essentially an Avatar of a Feruchemist? The Metalmind has its own separate "body", but shares an Identity with the Feruchemist and can be drawn back to them at will, assuming they can maintain contact. I know this isn't a perfect simile given that a Feruchemist clearly isn't a Vessel, but could Feruchemy perhaps be utilizing this mechanism in the same way Nalthian Awakening uses base Cosmere principles? Maybe an Unsealed Metalmind is just an extension of this idea, expanding the Feruchemist's influence through a more fully Splintered portion of their Spiritweb.