Trusk'our

That is a pretty valid reason to make her your favorite. I like that a lot about her too, but I also really liked watching Pattern try to push Shallan to grow as well, sticking with her even when she could very possibly cause his destruction. Come to think of it, every Spren tries to push their Radiant to grow except for the Stormfather- Dalinar pushes him to grow instead. Kind of weird, but I still like the dynamic.

Well, you could choose to do that, but it isn't necessary. You could burn the spikes as a source of Atium, much like how a Compounder can choose to burn their Metalminds for either an Allomantic or Feruchemical effect. So you could probably refine the Atium into its pure form and burn it as normal, I'd imagine. EDIT: and now I apparently don't need to rely on the possibility of pure Atium being able to be Burned by anyone. I can just burn it normally. Guess I traded my F-chromium spike for an A-Atium one. . . though in hindsight, trading for a spike that relies on a mythical near non-existent fuel source probably wasn't a smart move.

Tough choice, but I choose Pattern; he's funny, awkward, friendly, and has an alien mentality. Stormfather is my second favorite because he also has an interesting mindset that leads to some interesting character interactions. I also really like how he fits with Dalinar as his Radiant. Syl is my third favorite because she has a childlike sense of wonder about her. I'm not into much of her humor or childish (yes, I know, It's a little contradictory, but that's how I honestly feel) behavior though, which is probably why she isn't higher on my list, though I can see why many people would choose her as their favorite.

Of Atium? No idea, although. . . Maybe we should try to unearth some old Inquisitor corpses and take their Atium spikes to burn and whatnot. Actually, that could make for a fun and somewhat believable MAG quest.

I mean, they can't pass through physical objects, so technically yes, you could.

Or, maybe you're just an Inquisitor that's so successful that you managed to survive long enough to become a Most Ancient. Atium Compounding, friend, Atium.

Ah, that would be pretty cool to see. Not only can they become extraordinarily attractive visually, but they could become so vocally as well. Also, yeah, sonic attacks could be terrifying if done correctly; the sounds made by a sperm whale, for example, can actually cause paralysis in divers or even vibrate them to death. This would be particularly useful to counter Tineyes and Windwhisperers. Absolutely they could; if they can make other organs that can operate as normal, I see no reason spinnerets couldn't be replicated either. Yup, should also be possible. Would be a powerful tool in the hands of someone fighting in the dark or for underwater exploration. I'm a bit confused on this one. Could you explain it in more detail? Could be another useful to break into vaults and such; just eat the door. Yes, I could see this as a way to create vaccines, particularly if the Kandra is dedicated towards the field of medicine. To an extent, yes, they could probably do this, but it be like using F-brass. It could still keep a human ally alive in a frigid environment though. Thanks for sharing these cool ideas! Yup, Kandra are super-duper busted with their potential for power. They just don't use it to its full potential as they don't particularly care to. In fact, part of me wonders if the reason Brandon put the not killing humans as part of their culture in was to help prevent them from being OP. Also, in the future you may want to edit your first post if you have new comments so as to not double post.

Well hopefully you still get to enjoy reading the books! Welcome to the 17th Shard!

Here's one more I drew of the Good Hemalurgist. EDIT: and a few more.

Hmmm, that could make sense.

You mean because they are in the PR?

Probably, though Connection to a Shard should do it since they primarily exist in the SR. That makes me wonder if Connecting to Dominion or Devotion would draw you closer to the CR. Maybe you could see and physically interact with Spren as Lift does if you did so.

*pyromaniac sounds intensify*

Fair enough. I don't think I'm fully convinced at this time, though I appreciate that you're willing to come up with a decent argument to support your claim. I wish we'd see more Realmatics in play- then we'd have more evidence to figure out how all this stuff works definitively.

Well, you actually appear to be an Arteth now. . . but no worries! I'm sure we can just tattoo your face up right properly and secretly hand over a part of the Alethi government to you!

I once worried about this too, but I no longer think this will be the case. First of all, as @Tamriel Wolfsbaine mentioned, the medallions are more limited than spikes in some ways, even though we don't know all the ways they are yet. This will likely be mitigated as time passes and newer, better medallions come to fruition, but I doubt that Hemalurgic spikes will entirely run out of use. Plus, the powers that a medallion provide are temporary as the nicrosil portion of the medallions will run out eventually. Hemalurgic spikes don't have that issue. Hemalurgic spikes also have the potential to change or augment a lot more their bearer's Spiritweb than a medallion. It would be really cool to see advances in Hemalurgic sciences in the later eras. So I think that both will become useful in their own respective ways; medallions will likely become a cheaper, more preferable and wider scale way of accessing the Metallic Arts, but Hemalurgy will always have some value if utilized correctly (though it's entirely possible that the taboos attached to it will mean only the desperate or power-hungry groups will ever use it).

Awesome! I can appreciate a fellow artist of Cosmere works; hope to see more of you on the Shard!

Oooooh, sounds spicy But in all seriousness, who do you hope him to get together with?

Yes, Connection to Preservation is necessary to fuel Allomancy; that's the sort of the "bridge" that allows them to draw on the Shard's Investiture. I think that the way it works is that the Investiture in the Allomancer's Spiritweb acts almost like an electric magnet; when the Allomancer burns metal, it turns on the "magnet" and pulls Investiture directly from Preservation into the Allomancer, using the Connection between the Allomancer and Preservation to flow between the two. So more Connection would make the process more efficient and possibly allow for more total Investiture to be drawn out, but the base Investiture of the Allomancer- their raw Allomantic strength- would still need to be increased for them to draw out a noticeably larger amount of Preservation's Investiture (though Connection would probably still make the process work more efficiently). This is a bit of a leap of logic though, so take it with a grain of salt. Hopefully we learn more about Allomancy's (and Feruchemy's and Hemalurgy's) Realmatics more in era 3 so I can make a more definitive statement on how it all works. What about the WoB though? It specifically says that Connection is at least part of what makes a Savant better at using their Investiture. You and @therunner are probably right that the warping of the Spiritweb from Savantism brings some things to the Allomancer that simply increasing Connection can't do though, such as Spook being able to filter out his bandages from his sight or being able to reactively use his Allomancy to dodge attacks. yes it did, thank you Oh well, perhaps Connection via F-duralumin alone can't up an Awakener's game. Maybe F-nicrosil could though?

Very well, I respect your opinions. I thought I recalled Vasher saying that he needed fewer Breaths as a whole to Awaken something once he had obtained more Breaths, but unfortunately I don't have the book right now. I'll try to get it from the local library at some point though. If someone else happens to find it though, I'd be more than happy to hear it (ahem, @Treamayne ) Also, what about the Godking with his Perfect Invocation? Doesn't that allow an Awakener to use fewer Breaths by more efficiently drawing color from objects? Breath do carry a measure of Connection with them, though it is not as large as most other forms of Investiture due to Endowment's Intent; This very likely could be the case. I also want to mention that I don't think that Connection alone would allow an Allomancer to draw more Investiture from the SR, at least not a large difference- that would be tied to the Allomancer's Innate Investiture (which could be effected by F-nicrosil). So while increased Connection would make them more insightful into their powers and allow them to use them more efficiently, there would be a strict upper limit. This is true. I merely hypothesize that a Feruchemist could increase the Connection between them and a Metalmind's contents to up the efficiency of tapping it. Interesting. Yes, I could see that happening, particularly what with Elantrians potentially learning to tap Connection to use their powers away from Elantris, not to mention the fact that the Sorceress and Shai (as an Elantrian) seem to have cracked the method as well; If I understand correctly, more Connection to a Shard leads to a greater intrinsic knowledge of that Shard's mechanisms. I can't extend this particular post any more (I have to get ready for my workday), but I hope to continue this discussion later.

I recently had a particular part of a WoB pointed out to me by @therunner; Before, I took this to mean that the reason Savants are so much more efficient with their Investiture because the warping of their Spiritwebs brought them closer to the SR, but now I think diferently; I believe the reason why Savants are more efficient with and have more control over their powers is because they have greater Connection to the Shard in question. The negative side-effects of their Savantism may not be necessary to get that extra power- perhaps only the Connection matters and Savantism is only one rout to obtaining it. This makes a lot more sense to me now, as we can actually see Connection working like this with other magic systems. Awakening requires less Breath to Awaken something with the more Breaths in total the Awakener possesses. Additionally, the Awakener gains a greater inherent knowledge of how to use their powers, much like how Allomantic Savants have a greater ability to control their powers. Radiants require less and less Stormlight to fuel their Surgebinding the stronger their Bond- which is mostly just an extra strong Connection to a Spren- grows. This would also help explain why Kaladin's embodiment of Honor's ideals made him stronger and therefore more resistant to Urithiru's corrupted suppression field- he not only had his Spren's natural Connection to the magic system, but he also had quite a few other more mundane Connections that drew him closer and granted him slightly more power as a result (WoB). The uses of artificially increasing Connection (such as through F-duralumin) could be interesting to see interact with different Invested systems; A Connector Ferring could potentially Awaken with fewer Breaths or learn more complex Commands, almost as if they possessed a higher Heightening. They could also possibly Surgebind more efficiently, though their Spren may not approve. It's also possible that F-duralumin could grant an Allomancer the benefits of Savantism without the downsides. Perhaps Connecting to a Metalmind's Investiture could help a Feruchemist tap it more efficiently, particularly if tapping it at an accelerated rate. In fact, the quote makes me think we'll see this in era 3 of Mistborn; And of course, I think that an aspiring Hemalurgist could gain a more comprehensive knowledge of and use for Hemalurgic Bindpoints, particularly if they can Compound duralumin.

Ah, I hadn't seen that before but now that you mention it, yes, that seems to be how that works. Honestly, this is way cooler; it seems to point toward Connection being something that draws you closer to the Spiritual Realm, which has a whole lot of implications. Probably going to make some posts about it. Thanks @therunner!