Trusk'our

And now I've "traded" that dumb practically unusable Allomantic Atium spike for a Shardblade. Guy who "traded" me for it wasn't aware that having a legendary magic sword doesn't do squat to stop you from getting hit on the head with a rock

Let's say you have a Lifeless that was made from the body of a porter, somebody who was very strong and capable, yet who had never once picked up a sword. Then you decide to hand them over to a trainer to condition them to be your bodyguard. Will the Lifeless be able to be trained to act as effectively as a Lifeless who was originally a soldier in life and then made into a Lifeless? Basically, can you train a Lifeless new skills effectively?

True, but there are Koloss-blooded born to a human and a Koloss, such as Tarson. Yes? I thought it was important anyway, because it felt strange that Hemalurgy would change someone's species, yet not alter their innate instincts.

Identity contamination would prevent the Invested charges of the Hemalurgic spikes from working cooperatively- you'd probably shift from having the benefits of one charge to another randomly. Now, if you could Blank their Identity somehow (such as storing F-aluminum Identity during the charging process) you could combine them and get a single greater charge. In fact, you probably wouldn't need to use multiple spikes, as you could reuse the same spike on another Donor as long as the Identities of both Donors were Blanked at the time of charging.

The human mind cannot truly comprehend the vastness of space, so there will be some expansion of the distances, but it won't ever be the same as what it is the physical Realm. @The Bookwyrm is also correct; without sentient beings actively thinking about or perceiving objects in the physical Realm, there are going to be large sections of the Cognitive Realm that don't have a large imprint on travel distance. Hope that answers your question

Hemalurgy can bestow great power upon its wielder, but it has costs and limitations. Arguably the biggest of which is that piercing yourself with enough Hemalurgic spikes will open you up to complete control from outside influences, such as Shards, Emotional Allomancers of sufficient power, or duralumin Ferrings who have stored up enough Connection. But there should be ways to bypass this weakness in Hemalurgy. Here's what I've come up with- 1. Don't. Just don't: this one is pretty simple. Just don't spike yourself with more than three spikes. Simple, guaranteed to work, and will also have the benefit of not putting a large amount of strain on your Spiritweb (such as is seen with the Steel Inquisitors). It does limit the amount of power you can get though, which is the downside (though there may be ways to cheat a little bit, such as charging a single spike with multiple different powers or the same power multiple times to increase the spike's total level of Investiture and versatility). 2. Aluminum foil hats: aluminum acts as a great insulation from all sorts of Investiture, most particularly Emotional Allomancy. In fact, an aluminum helmet would have been able to greatly reduce Ruin's influence on Rashek, meaning aluminum could probably also help prevent Shardic control. Aluminum lining in clothes or as ornamentation could also help in lieu of a helmet, since it has a field effect (WoB). 3. Trellium spikes: Another method proven to work, at least allowing up to five spikes to be borne by a human Hemalurgist without letting Harmony take control of them. Trell can still control them though, so it's also not infallible. Trellium/other Godmetal alloys may be able to achieve a similar end result without Connecting oneself to Trell too much, and therefore may be a better alternative to the pure metal. 4. Connection shenanigans: In order to control a being pierced by too much Hemalurgy, you must maintain a spiritual Connection to them. Feruchemical duralumin can store away Connections that the user has, so a Hemalurgist could potentially store the Connection that their opponent tries to use against them. This might even be able to protect against Shards (and maybe blind the Shard's vision of them as a bonus), as they exist almost entirely in the spiritual Realm and seem to require Connection to something to interact with it meaningfully- though storing Connection to Ruin could possibly prevent their Allomantic powers endowed via Hemalurgy from working if they draw from that Shard's Investiture, which is not ideal. 5. Determination: Marsh was able to resist Ruin's influence a small bit in HoA, but with the number of spikes he bore he was unable to do so sufficiently under Ruin's direct pressure. If he had access to F-electrum though, he might have stood a better chance, at least temporarily. Compounding would make it a more viable option for the long haul, though the constant wearing down of willpower makes this method of resisting outside influence unappealing. 6. Supercharged Copperclouds: Copperclouds can make the Smoker (and potentially others nearby) resistant to Emotional Allomancy. It only makes sense that if you were to augment this power enough it could render a being far more resistant to powerful Allomancers, or maybe even Shards (though that is dependent if there is a practical limit to the amount of influence a Shard can exert on a single being's Spiritweb, which would probably be based on Connection and the size of the Spiritweb's cracks- which is my current train of thought. If the only limitation is the Shard's own Investiture, this method will not work). A-copper Savantism may help as well. 7. Supercharged Blessing of Presence: similar to #5, but with Hemalurgic copper rather than Allomantic copper. This option would only really be available to Kandra unless a new breakthrough in Hemalurgy comes, but it would also have the added benefit of increasing the Hemalurgist's mental faculties as well, not just covering a weakness. 8. Raw Investiture: The more Invested a being is, the more it resists other sources of Investiture. For example, the God King Susebron would be highly resistant or even immune to Rashek's Emotional Allomancy. This could mean that a Hemlurgist that managed to find a way to Invest themselves enough (such as collecting enough Breaths) they could offset the Flaw to some degree. It also could be that supersaturating the Hemalurgic spikes themselves with Investiture could be particularly effective, as they may be so full that any other invasive Investiture trying to get through the Hemalurgist's Spiritweb cracks would be rebuffed. 9. Protective Commands: Commands can be used when creating Hemalurgic spikes, possibly allowing for some interesting shenanigans. Perhaps you could endow a spike with the Command to repel any other Investiture trying to invade the Hemalurgist's Spiritweb, possibly protecting in a similar manner to Trellium. Or maybe you add a Command to a spike to directly resist and counteract Commands given by outside influences. 10. Shared control: Perhaps if a group of Hemalurgists all deliberately "control" (and thereby Bond or Connect to) each other. They could pool their collective mental prowess to resist influences outside their pseudo-hivemind; the Heralds seemed to be able to resist torture through their Bonds, so maybe Hemalurgists could do the same. Those are all the ways I can think of right now to circumvent the Flaw. Does anybody else have any ideas to pitch in?

The First Generation of Kandra were different from Kandra that were born Mistwraiths; they didn't have the same instincts that were present in the others. So, long question short, do Koloss retain their sense of attraction for humans after their transformation, since Hemalurgy doesn't seem to change the Cognitive Aspect in that way (at least not directly)? We see that there are Koloss-blooded born from Koloss and humans, so would that mean that there are Koloss physically attracted to humans despite their new anatomical differences?

Not even with Purified Dor levels? Good points- A-pewter healing is like a slow dripping from a semi-leaky pipe compared to F-gold that is more like a cup that slowly fills up and can be drunk all at once. Oh, it would be a horribly inefficient way to heal from those types of injuries, I just think that it may be possible to do so. Most people (even Mistings) aren't going to be willing or able to grant themselves F-gold Hemalurgy, but having the option for healing from such wounds available could be useful to them (though unlikely to occur- the mindset requirement would be very difficult to achieve or even know about). I also think that it would be really interesting to see a Pewterarm character use a more mind-over-matter approach or scholarly approach to their Investiture, especially considering the fact that most Pewterarms don't look into their power beyond the obvious (and easy) thuggish aspects. A pewter Misting who was a true master over the tiny aspects of their mind and power and had uncovered its secrets would be fascinating to read about indeed.

Hmmm Wouldn't the Identity/Spiritweb still block regular Steel/iron Allomancy? Humans aren't considered to be particularly Invested normally, yet metals in close enough proximity to their Spiritwebs block such methods of manipulation. But yeah, insectephobes would be a problem. And insecticides. And probably the bug's lifespan. Location location, my friend Warbreaker spoilers: That's a fair point- Koloss controlled by Vin couldn't even do anything more complex than "attack", "don't attack", "stay", or "go", so bugs probably could only be expected to do bug-like activities, such as "swim in my roommate's cereal", or "eat the couch cushions", or "bite that guy". But if you could track them via Connection (as we know Vin was able to do with her Koloss minions) then you could still conceivably use them to track someone, or perhaps you could command them to fly around an area and peer through their eyes like a little camera (like Vin with TenSoon in WoA). True. What if you first increased their intelligence and then controlled them? Then you'd have a Rocket knockoff as a buddy .

Ah, that makes sense.

Sorry it took me so long to respond- I'm not sure how I forgot to. I hypothesize that A-pewter's healing actually works under the exact same mechanism as F-gold, it's just that it's much, much smaller in terms of Investiture. The reason you get scars even with it? The healing either takes too long and thus the injuries get incorporated into your Cognitive Aspect, thus making them scar as normal, or because the Investiture granted by A-pewter is just too small to boost from a seemingly natural healing method to a more miraculous one. This makes me think that a Pewterarm that had the correct mindset might be able to recover and regenerate completely even from very old physical injures (such as regrowing lost fingers, arms, nasty scars, or a blinded eye), though it would be difficult to maintain the correct mindset during the whole process of healing. It now makes me think of a fantasy-style monk, sitting in seclusion, trying to perfect their mind to gain greater control over their body. I don't think that A-pewter could heal spiritual injuries though (such as being Hemalurgically spiked), as, well, WoR spoilers;

1. Cause it's funny to see your reaction 2. (the real reasons) Because nobody is going to guess that miniscule bug on their back windshield is actually a tracking device/biological spy cam- it's clearly a novel enough idea based on your reaction that few people would ever think to protect against it, kind of like how nobody suspected TenSoon of impersonating Vin's dog. Plus, attacking your enemies with a swarm of angry bees sounds like a pretty compelling deterrent. Interesting. I hadn't thought about that, but maybe that would be the case. Maybe spiking a horde of rodents instead? NO, WAIT- spike a pack of raccoons to do your bidding! They have opposable thumbs and could break into people's houses to grab stuff for you. Nobody would bat an eye at you for raccoons "randomly" stealing something. Plus, maybe you could teach them to handle Hemalurgic spikes as well with those thumbs. . . actually, maybe that's going a bit too far- you might end up with a semi-Inquisitor racoon trying to kill you and take over the pack (Though that might make a fun MAG adventure). But in all seriousness, a racoon servant might be fun

Lol, especially when they're bees. Now that would be a weapon to fear . Well, we used to have bees. My dad got stung once (beekeeper suits aren't as sting proof as people think, especially around the gloves), but it was fine- he had been allergic to bee stings when he was a kid but had visited an allergist who had, over the course of a year, trained his body to no longer overreact to their venom. Unfortunately, it turns out that getting stung once can reset the whole immune system's response somehow, because when he got stung the next time he went into shock. My mom burst into the house barely able to drag my dad and I had to carry him to the car, as he could no longer stand on his own and barely was maintaining consciousness. My mom quickly drove him to the hospital (nearly getting into three separate accidents on the way) and my dad got the treatment he needed. He was fine by the end of it all, but needless to say, we had to get rid of the bees after that (we sold them to another beekeeper who we knew would take care of them well). And that's the story of why we no longer have bees

We've seen in ToES that an Elantrian can read the Aons written in a curse put on a person and can tell its "code" or instructions from this. Could it be possible for someone to learn to read the Investiture of Hemalurgic spikes in a similar manner, possibly be becoming heavily Invested by Ruin or manipulating Connection in the right way?

I got an idea from the bees my family used to keep- you can put tags on their thoraxes to help track them (such as separating the queen from the workers and drones), but they can still fly alright.; could you potentially use some really small spikes to implant into an insect (such as a housefly or honeybee) to Bond and control them, using them to act as a tracker or as a distraction against enemies? Plus, they would have a very weak Cognitive Aspect I would think, so perhaps you wouldn't need four spikes to control them, but only two or three? Also, as a bit of a side note, how easy would peering out of the eyes of a creature you've dominated via Hemalurgy be? We've seen Vin do it with TenSoon, so would it be a matter of more spikes to make their soul easier to access, or would F-duralumin's Connection boost be more necessary for peering through your fly pet's compound eyes?

Nice to meet you, welcome to the Shard!

I don't think that the Investiture itself would do the bearer any harm- Investiture seems to have the universal effect of uplifting or deifying a being possessing it, not causing them harm. Dawnshard and Warbreaker spoilers: Additionally, Investiture expands a wielders soul and mind, allowing them to use it better or to protect them from the power itself- Feruchemy, for example, helps protect its user as a natural component of its use and Hemalurgic spikes rearrange organs in their bearer to prevent death. However, the method of accessing that Investiture could matter a whole lot- bearing Hemalurgic spikes granting that power would cause wear and tear on the Spiritweb, and too many could seriously maim their bearers. This could most likely be mitigated by having only a few very highly Invested spikes, but it could not be fully removed. If the Investiture was gained through direct Shardic intervention though, I think only a relatively (it could matter a lot in the long term, depending on the level of Investiture) minor warping of the mind due to the Intent of the Investiture would matter.

Yeah, they'd need to be a little more advanced than they are currently, but I don't think that it would have to be that significant. After all, animals can be spiked Hemalurgically (WoB), so the medallions would have to have a spiritual complexity comparable to that of a simple animal. Oh, and if you could spike a medallion you could probably stack multiple charges into a single spike (I imagine it would be easier to deal with a machine's Identity than that of a human, or you could "heal" said machine and then spike them repeatedly). This would be of particular interest if F-nicrosil cannot yield greater Invested power than what the Allomancer or Feruchemist stored in it to begin with.

Yeah, I suppose that makes sense. Alright, you have convinced me (for now ); an aluminum spike can remove/destroy Hemalurgically granted powers. The interesting thing is that would mean that you should be able to spike a person's Spiritweb and take from their other spikes as well, perhaps allowing you to combine the Investiture of the Donor and the spike they were bearing (though Identity contamination would still be a problem). It sounds like you're saying that in jest, but you know, that might actually be possible, or at least close to possible; we know that an AI that is advanced enough can act as a Hemalurgic donor (see @.....'s earlier WoB) and that medallions have more of an Identity/"life force" than other Metalminds (WoB). Perhaps with a little advancement (and maybe some rubber parts to be physically capable of being spiked?) you could spike a medallion or Harmonium-fueled device and use that as a method to make truly non-harmful (for human donors, anyway) spikes. Maybe you could also combine multiple powers into a spike more easily, because as far as I know a medallion would have only one Identity and therefore the powers could be combined into a single spike. . . though, at that point the medallions may be superior in most ways to spikes and the process of using medallions to make the spikes would prove redundant.

Yeah, it can be, particularly when the villains use it. I'd really like to see it used for more altruistic means, such as when Wax and Wayne reused some of Dumad's spikes.

I personally feel that it's the last of the examples you gave, since that lines up with what all other Hemalurgy does. It would just be that aluminum is unable to hold that charge, so it is lost. I understand that we don't really know for sure how it works as of right now, but this seems the most logical to me. Counterpoint, Medallion powers are more restrictive than natural Metalborn powers and Hemalurgic spikes have weird Identity and Spiritweb ramifications attached to their use. Therefore, not all powers is all powers

You know, I'm not sure that H-aluminum can target other Hemalurgically endowed powers, since they are not actually part of the Spiritweb of the target. I suppose that knowing whether you could spike an attribute or power grafted on by Hemalurgy or not would answer this question, though as of right now I'm guessing it doesn't work that way.

Feruchemical Bendalloy can store water and nutrients inside a Metalmind. But what are the limits of this? Most importantly to this topic, since an Allomancer can sort of metabolize metal, could they store metals they swallowed in a Bendalloymind? If they could, it would be a way to drastically increase their Allomantic reserves whilst keeping them highly portable. It also might be a way to bypass Leeching to an extent, since only Metalminds being currently tapped can be Leeched- the Allomancer could just tap a Bendalloymind for a hit of metal after being Leeched and then stop tapping to prevent their Metalminds from being Leeched. You could also use duralumin (if they had a Hemalurgic spike providing its use) in bursts and replace your metal reserves in the blink of an eye, all without needing to hassle with vials or canteens. I now really, really like this idea.

Makes sense. My favorite is Hemalurgy, as it just has so many secrets to unravel and because you can use it to make just about any change to an organism you want. Plus, it's been mentioned by Brandon that it's something that transcends all other magics. Yeah, he's pretty great I think my favorite character is either Dalinar (for his ideals and maturity. Plus there are some scenes that are funny with him) or Kelsier (as he was the first character I read about in the Cosmere and I like his charisma and personality). That's a valid concern. I hope that Dan Wells does a good job at helping Brandon out with writing more stories.

Eh, it's not so bad for some other worlds. ( @alder24 already mentioned Nalthis and Sel, so I'll focus on Scadiel, my favorite Shardworld) Scadrial has access to their own form of magitech, which will only progress as time moves on. I also doubt that Scadrial will stay as Investiture poor compared to the other Shardworlds forever, as there are ways of boosting their own Investiture (advanced Unsealed Metalminds, supercharged Hemalurgic spikes, Lerasium production, Compounding, etc.) and they almost certainly will find a way to harness their largest source of local Investiture- the Mists- someday, similar to how Roshar uses Highstorm Investiture to power their Fabrials and such (though they will need to find a way to process it first, to purify it as the Dor can). And while Scadrial's magics aren't as naturally versatile as the others, I doubt they will stay that way forever as technological processes and Realmatic theory allow them to program Investiture and such.