ChickenBonanza

I wouldn’t say Scadrial has any Focuses but metal. The acquisition of powers, after all, is something tied more to the Shard than a planet’s Focus, which determines what the powers actually do. Allomancy’s genetic lineages and Snapping align quite well to Preservation, I think. Oaths fit this for Honor. There is a question I must ask: what is an Ideal? The Immortal Words are Ideals, but more foremost they are Oaths. I see Ideals as more of a cultural perception thing rather than something inherent to Surgebinding or Roshar. A human cultural perception. Spren themselves are aligned with the concepts embodied by those Ideals, but that’s because of their creation and the influence of human perception which shifts them towards that Ideal. The Unoathed are more the result of recovering Deadeye spren taking advantage of their inherent bonding ability and their ability to become Shardblades and Shardplate. Their reasoning for doing so relates to humans embodying the Ideals which they care for, rather than following the Oath system put in place by Honor and Ishar. If Ideals are the Rosharan System’s Focus, then their influence must inhabit all the system’s Invested Arts. In the age of Alashwa, the Surges used seem independent from the Ideals expressed in spren, do they not? One could say the Honorblades lack Ideals, beyond their limited sentience. The diseases on Ashyn must be quite mindless, by my reckoning. The Essences of Soulcasting could also be influenced by perception (and thus be an Ideal, of some form), but if they are influenced by something, it’s more likely to more an aspect prevalent throughout the Cosmere rather than something inherent to Roshar. Like maybe color. (The strands of Aether seem to correspond to Polestones. Not perfectly, but that, I believe is more a failure to create everything with everything else in mind, worldbuilding wise.) Surges being an ‘Ideal application’ of Investiture… I don’t know how to organize my thoughts on that. Perhaps I can say it’s an extra step for no apparent purpose. A different topic I wanted to express is Fabrials. There are Fabrials which mimic Surges, wherein some form of Truespren seems to go semi-dormant in the Cognitive Realm and manifest a Soulcaster in the physical. Modern Fabrials involve the trapping of lesser spren in gemstones, afterwards using stormlight to force them to express some attribute relating to themselves, often using the inherent Cosmeric properties of metal to influence the result. Flamespren create heat, for example. Are these not an application of an Ideal? One of fire? I would say they are not. I would say they are something like an Awakened object. Not an actual one, of course. A jury-rigged one. Essentially, creating a Fabrial is plugging Investiture pre-coded with… let’s say Intent (not much of a Command in the mind of a lesser spren), into a container (the gemstone), and thereafter using that Intent to produce an effect when powered by stormlight. Once more, I’d say this takes advantage of principles not limited to Roshar.

I’ve browsed other Focus-based posts and come across opinions which I vehemently disagree with. That the Focus of Roshar is not the Surges, but rather something else like the bond or the spren. Here are my thoughts on the subject. Apologies beforehand for any lack of scholarship. First, we must ask ‘what is a Focus?’ I am unsure on how to word this in a way I am 100% satisfied with academically, but for this post I will define Focus as the object or method that determines how an Investiture behaves. For example, metal is a Focus on Scadrial. (The Focus, I should say. The one that is tied to Scadrial Spiritually.) Allomancy is the Metallic Art which clearest acts according to the properties of metal, as reflected throughout the Cosmere. Even when taking in external power, like Vin with the Mists and Marasi with Autonomy’s perpendicularity, they can only use that power to power their Allomancy, which derives from the principles of metal. (Barring special cases like the Well of Ascension, but that’s not the topic of this post.) So, what is metal’s analogue on Roshar? What determines the shapes Surgebinding takes? It’s the spren, right? While I did see an good argument by Confused in “Magic System Components - Focus” that spren align with primordial Focuses like gravity or fire, and that the interplay of Honor and Cultivation within the Truespren creates dual essences they are aligned to, I find this unlikely. Unlike lower spren, these higher spren are quite different in their operation. Being quite sapient and more nuanced. A paltry rebuttal, I know. But, y’know, it feels wrong to call them the Focus in of themselves. Spren are, however, personification of concepts, ideas, the raw powers of creation, as Sylphrena puts it. In that way, spren are Focus by way of being Surges. (Though I would say they aren’t, not exactly.) Bonds as the Focus, I feel, is simply incorrect. Bonds are a Cosmere-wide phenomenon present in many ways, for a variety of reasons. On Roshar, they are particularly prevalent in the form of the Nahel. Organisms with gemhearts have adapted (or were created) with ease of bonding in mind. The abilities gained through bonds might be affected by Roshar’s Focus, but to identify it as Roshar’s Focus itself is lacking. (On another planet, bonds might be the primary Focus; the Focus tied to the planet’s Spiritual aspect, but this is not the case on Roshar.) Bonds with spren fulfill the same function as an Allomancer’s inborn spiritual DNA. An Allomancer’s Spiritweb would have a dedicated section which allows them to do Allomancer things. By bonding with a spren, a Surgebinder Spiritweb gains a similar portion of Spiritual DNA which allows them to access Surges. And, just like how there exist different styles of this sDNA for different metals for Allomancers, the composition of the Investiture of the bonded spren determines access to Surges. (Or their alignment to certain concepts and forces.) Crystals as a Focus applies to Soulcasting, but not the Surge of Transformation, and certainly not Surgebinding as a whole. Crystals might hold stormlight, but that is simply a function of the crystals structure being able to hold gaseous Investiture. Moreover, among the Polestones used in Soulcasting, the color is their biggest differentiator. A Polestone drained of color by Nalthian Awakening would not function properly in Soulcasting. Even within Surgebinder-derived Soulcasting, it’s possible to ignore this restriction. So there is an argument that gems are merely a crutch, and is only strictly required when using Fabrial Soulcasters, which perhaps cannot be properly guided by a Surgebinder’s mind. However, this may just be a restriction to Soulcasting as a whole. (A shame these are both paraphrased.) Raboniel’s access to the Surge of Transformation, and all Fannah-im, as far as I am aware, is not explicitly described as Soulcasting. Raboniel’s usage of the Surge is particularly exotic and immediate. Acidic gas and disintegration, with no mention of Polestones. Unmaking the Sibling is also a significant departure from other uses of Radiant and Fabrial Soulcasting. Of course, other methods exist to gain access to Surges. Including from different Shards. Honorblades are solely from Honor, yet grant the same ten Surges a bonded Surgebinder could access. Fused gained their Surges from Odium, which could be intepreted as a type of bond, but I would note as much closer to something like Harmony making Spook a Mistborn, a permanent infusion of the soul. One of the reasons Odium values Roshar is because of the power of the Surges. Rayse believed that other Shards would war when discovering its strength. If Surges are not somehow tied to the planet, why care? Why not simply replicate its efficiency and effects somewhere else? Because he can’t. Much as Scadrial’s Invested Arts always involve metal and take after their properties, Roshar’s Invested Arts take after the properties of Surges. All Invested Arts in the Rosharan System correspond to the Surges. Including the diseases Invested that were left after Ashyn’s destruction. Floating cities? Flying after getting a cold? An application of Gravitation. Everything you touch gets set on fire? Division. Walking through walls? Cohesion. (Most relevant word is here, but I took those other off-the-cuff examples from other arcanum entries.) I don’t know much about Voidbindings, but Renarin’s seeing the future and messed up Lightweaving is simply a different application of the Surge of Illumination. He can’t Lightweave as Shallan does because his usage of the Surge is different inherently. Truthwatchers abilities relate naturally to the Cognitive and Spiritual Realms. The Truthwatcher Honorblade-wielder uses Illumination to spook Szeth with Spiritual-Realm voice shenanigans. Granted, they were all corrupted by Ishar, but a past focused Illumination for Radiant Surgebinders versus future-focused Illumination for Enlightened Surgebinders seems likely. Not a separate ability, different applications of the same Surge. That’s all, I think.

A more appropriate question, in my mind, would be if terken shells are like silver, instead of aluminum. Aluminum likely would not break a Sand Master’s ribbon by mere contact. Silver, however, likely would. This implies that a terken shell’s properties are less aligned towards resistance to Investiture, like aluminum, and more aligned towards disruption of Investiture, like silver. The ‘good argument’ mentioned is that disruption, I think. While it is possible that terken both resists Investiture and disrupts it, we have not seen the former property in action, in the unlikely case that it does exist. However, how disruption plays into other forms of Investiture is kind of inconsistent, I think. Some relevant silver info: Of course, terken shells can operate very differently from silver’s disruption of Investiture. It could merely be an adaptation against the lichen which coats Taldain’s sand. It might draw out Investiture from the lichen, or cut off the bond between the lichen and the Sand Master. Not enough information to say, I think. So, in conclusion: maybe, iunno. I like this idea a whole lot, very neat.

I am uncertain on Rayse’s thoughts when agreeing to the Contest of Champions. Theoretically, he could lend more power to his servants and other proxies of himself? With a Dalinar oathbound to serve Rayse, he could reasonably lend more power to him and not worry about another Ba-Ado-Mishram. Avatar-level, maybe. Something worthy to face a Shard and cause enough collateral damage for that Shard to believe direct conflict to be not worth it. However, that is a method which he is quite adverse to, I believe. Perhaps the initial agreement with Honor and Cultivation, the one in which Odium agreed to stay in the Rosharan system, becomes lessened with the death of Honor and potentially Cultivation, leaving him more free to wield influence beyond Roshar, but not leave or Uninvest from the planet/system. Though that is as likely as not, I think. Favoring not. Assuming Autonomy was still Invested on a planet in The Lost Metal, a Shard still has quite a measure of ability to meddle with others, albeit Harmony is probably the easiest to ‘mess with.’

A good synthesis, I think. There is a struggle, in my mind, of how Connection should be discussed in relation to ‘external’ Connections versus ‘internal’ Connections. This makes me predisposed to scrutinize the usage of the term more closely than I perhaps should. Like, a Spiritweb is segments of Investiture (in Spiritual DNA form) bound together such that an individual emerges. Connections are a big part of that, the core self so closely bound together that everything else is separate by comparison. For a Tin Misting, the Tin-Burning section of their Spiritweb is very closely aligned with the Sensory Organ part of their Spiritweb (that’s just an educated guess, but as an example, pick anything that fits). Should this be called a Connection? Just Connection? Or is it superfluous, as it’s already a part of their Spiritweb, nothing else to say about it? So, for a Shard and an Avatar, how closely are they Connected? What’s the nature of it? Is it analogous to Preservation and all Allomancers? A man to his friend? Or Tin-Burning to Sensory Organ? Perhaps an Avatar is that closely Connected, practically inseparable, but Identity forms a distinct barrier anyways. That’s all of my thoughts on that, I think. Danke.

Part of me wishes to reject that definition of Ascension. Maybe unjustly. To me, the context in which Ascend is used does not imply a sustaining Connection, but to have the power in your hands and permeated through your soul. (Perhaps simply holding enough power to stretch your Spiritweb and be classified as a Sliver would be enough to called Ascension. Hoid considers Vin’s holding of the Well without using it to not be a full Ascension, but she still exhibits some potential effects of Sliver status afterward. Does he consider Rashek the same or different from Vin? Digress.) Telsin did have a Connection to Autonomy which granted her power, but Telsin herself implies that she has not yet Ascended as an Avatar. Or, at least, not a full one. She was on the path, but her failings caused Autonomy to cut her off. Theoretically, Mishram and Ishar could have done/were using this method. Creating a Connection to facilitate the drawing upon and usage of Odium’s Investiture, but I am of the opinion that one could not call this an Avatar. At least not fully. (Using the power to augment their abilities permanently in some manner is very likely, I think, as you noted was possible.) To me, an Avatar is a portion of a Shard given… autonomy and a distinct personality. It is inexorably a part of a Shard. For a Shard to decide to eliminate an Avatar, the method by which they would do so would be more than the revoking of the ‘Avatar Connection.’ Such a Connection, if an Avatar is fully formed and part of a Shard, probably would not exist. As one part of the body is not ‘Connected’ to another, but ‘physically’ a part of the whole. However, Avatars that were individual mortals beforehand, like Telsin, could behave very differently. My initial thoughts would be something analogous to becoming the Vessel of a Shard. The Avatar exists as a distinct part, with a personality/Intent weaker than an Avatar formed entirely from Investiture, and requires a Vessel for it to act ‘independently.’ In Telsin’s case, Autonomy is Investing her purposefully with a Connection that allows for the transference of Investiture, but not giving her full access to the what would be the source of her power. The Set call her ‘Avatar’ and ‘Trell’ because she is 99% of the way there and expresses ‘all’ of a true Avatar’s abilities, but she’s not.

Perhaps my original sentiment can better be expressed like “Ba-Ado-Mishram is not a Shard or a subsidiary of one. She is finite, and that proved her undoing by allowing her to be trapped in a gemstone.” Not meant to dunk on her skills in the domain of deity at all. She would make a better Odium than Rayse almost certainly. Tanavast made the objectively wrong choice in siding against her. Like, even if she falls to Odium’s Intent eventually, that’s still a century or so to teach her control and all that jazz.

A part of what makes these usages of the Well of Ascension and the Well of Control unique to me is the noninterference of their related Shards. Tacit approval or lack of ability to intervene lets one use the liquid Investiture without issue. An aware Shard could most likely prevent the grand usages of power we have seen. This notion, and the one above about Vin and Rashek being analogous to Avatars of Preservation bug me. The powers and effects wielded by both all examples were not permanent… wells they could then access. They were temporary. One of Ba-Ado’s issues was that she was too small a god to continually successfully replicate a Shard’s Investing of a world and its people. (That’s what she effectively did, by my understanding, by forging Spiritual Connections between herself and Roshar.) Ishar did a similar thing between himself and the other Heralds, as well as Shinovar. Given Odium’s favor of Ba-Ado over Rayse, there could be an argument that her usage of the Well of Control and the potential for her to usurp Odium grants her a special status or designation beyond Sliver. Beyond that notion, I cannot recall significant indication that she continually drew on Odium’s power rather than her own, as an Avatar would. Unless, of course, you mean that Ascension by Perpendicularity makes one an Avatar only for as long as that Ascensions lasts, leaving them ‘mere’ Slivers afterwards. In that case, I would concur.

I think both apply in Roshar’s case. Spren being bound both by the Shard’s Investing and the binding agreement to not leave by the Shard’s that compose their essence.

The reasons are the same, I believe. He’s a Cognitive Shadow without a physical body like a Returned. Since Harmony is still Invested in Scadrial, his Investiture in the Physical/Cognitive Realms cannot travel far away. On Roshar, Cultivation and Honor/Odium un-Invested themselves from the Rosharan system, so their Splinters are no more connected to that system than they are anywhere else, allowing them to leave.

I’d say that Elend, or a more powerful Mistborn, would gain more power out Compounding than Vin, or a weaker Mistborn. The hypothesis being that a stronger Mistborn would end up with more of a Feruchemically stored attribute than a Mistborn of lesser power, if they were both to Compound metalminds that were completely uniform in form and amount of attribute stored. This difference would be due to the stronger Mistborn being able to draw more power out of his stronger Allomantic ability/Connection to Preservation.

I do not believe the in-world name for an Invested Art has any bearing on its mechanics. (It may be named according or relating to its function, yes, but to consider it as perfect? Gospel for all its intricacies? No.) I believe that the Invested Arts of Scadrial, the Metallic Arts, function how they do because of the Shards that Invest Scadrial. Both the Shard and the Scadrial’s Realmatic Focus (or whatever the term is) influence how the Metallic Arts function. Scadrial’s being metal. If a different Shard came to Invest on Scadrial, the Invested Art they would spawn would also have metals as a key part of its function. By this reasoning, to use a material that is not metal to attempt ‘Hemalurgy’ could not act as the focus through which Ruin’s power acts. It could not steal other Invested Arts or human attributes. Not to say that such a thing is simply impossible. Any material, theoretically could perform the same function as Hemalurgy, but that would require more effort than ‘Hemalurgy with a stabby bit of metal’ does. One could expand the definition of ‘Hemalurgy’ to something along the lines of ‘stealing portions of a Spiritweb through the piercing of Bind Points with a material that is then Invested by that stolen Spiritweb.’ In that case, differentiations would have to be made as to how that occurred. By a material inscribed with Aons, channeling the Dor? Such a thing is distinct from the Hemalurgy we see on Scadrial, in my eyes.

My interpretation is that Hemalurgy is Ruin’s Invested Art that arose from his Investing of Scadrial, upon which Invested Arts present through the focus of metal. If you aren’t using metal to enact Hemalurgy… then you aren’t. It’s related, yes, but not Hemalurgy. Bindpoints and Spiritweb stealing seem to be fundamental thing. Bindpoints being certain points in every being that allow for insertion of Investiture or whatever. Hemalurgy is special because it can be achieved with a completely mundane piece of metal, thanks to Ruin’s interactions with Scadrial. If Ruin ever left Scadrial, Hemalurgy could very well stop working. Other objects, using other systems like AonDor or an Awakened object with instructions to steal Investiture through Bindpoints could very easily replicate Hemalurgy’s whole Spiritweb-theft.(Though Nalthian Awakening, Endowment-derived, would probably not be best suited to this task.) White Sand microbes wouldn’t be able to, I think. What do those goobers know about thievery? They just drink people’s spit and fly around a bit. …Gemalurgy, or perhaps Rosharan Hemalurgy, if we wish to pay tribute towards our first exposure to Bindpoint-related magic, is likely to be very different from Hemalurgy. Thing is, the theft of a portion of a Spiritweb could very well not be necessary. It could be very like a fabrial, trapping a spren or Investiture otherwise instructed to perform a specific function, and forcing them to express that function. Have we not seen spren of Odium specialized in the seeking out of Investiture, even if only kinetic sources? Inserting that coded piece of Investiture into a Spiritweb is accomplished by the piercing its physical container through a Bindpoint. Or, it could be the case that the stealing of Investiture was also used. However, in this case, one cannot simply stab a man with a sliver of diamond and expect that to work. There is no Shard to power such an interaction as there is with Ruin and metal. Instead, something must of either stolen a portion of a Spiritweb and transferred it to the diamond, or have Invested the diamond with the function to steal a portion of a Spiritweb. In this case, a Sighted seems like the perfect candidate. Maybe even multiple, stuffed into the same apparatus. Spooky.

We have a word of god on this exact topic! Behold! (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/402/#e13470) Needs to be the metal aligned with the Feruchemical charge it holds in order to draw it out, it seems. Splitting a metalmind divides its charges amongst its fragments, as seen in these words. The ignominy of being beaten in such a manner, by such a margin. Never shall I stop to help another again. Good day sir.

Greetings. I would like to share my thoughts on this topic. When making use of a Hemalurgic spike, one staples, roughly, a piece of foreign soul-matter into their own. This trauma inflicted upon the soul creates and exaggerates tearing a holes and whatever. Day to day, this is not a very noticeable effect. However, such tears allow Investiture—even foreign Investiture—to flow more easily through. This is why Hemalurgy makes one more vulnerable to Emotional Allomancy and other effects which wrest control from an individual, such as what some Shards exhibit. Ruin, being the source of Hemalurgy, is especially potent in this regard. This is also the reasoning behind Hemalurgy’s difficulty in forming Resonances, (https://wob.coppermind.net/events/373/#e12024) Resonances deriving from the melding of different powers in the Spiritweb, which cannot occur if different Invested Arts in the Spiritweb do not blend. Savantism, however, is possible. And is very possibly a source to remedy the damage to the Spiritweb inflicted by Hemalurgy. Somewhat. Savantism is the growth of a portion of the Spiritweb (most likely an Invested Art) in a manner in which it impacts the function of other portions of the Spiritweb, allowing access to more power at various costs. However, what if there was open space for that power to grow? Hemalurgy leaves a degree of separation between the spike’s corresponding portion of the Spiritweb and the original. Enough so that any leftover Identity in a Hemalurgic spike conflicts enough with the bearer’s when attempting to Compound. At least under Harmony’s influence. Marsh’s ability to Compound could be indicative of greater integration, and concurrently damage, allowed by spikes created and administered under Ruin as a sole Shard. Savantism, theoretically, would cause that spike portion to expand and fill that degree of separation. As well as some besides. Albeit such a thing could perhaps not be rightly called Savantism, if no negative impact is felt. I shall continue with the term as meaning ‘the growth or inflation of a section of the Spiritweb through continuous flow of Investiture through that section.’ That’s not the definition of Savantism, of course, but from now on is what I mean when I refer to Savantism. If one were able to analyze the Spiritweb with some tool or ability, one could perhaps know exactly to what degree they should delve into Savantism. Of course, with such tools, it is equally plausible for the damage caused by a Hemalurgic spike’s insertion to be minimized. If the receiver’s Spiritweb were to already be damaged—through mental trauma, a Nalthian giving away their Breath, or having been spiked before, as a non-lethal donor or as a recipient—there might not be any damage at all. Though Ruin’s Intent might not allow for such a thing. Harmony’s, perhaps, would. Another possible method to integrate a spike is time. The Spiritweb changes constantly over time. New Connections to people and places, changes in outlook. All of these change the parts of the Spiritweb corresponding to those aspects of ourselves. Over time, the Spiritweb portion aligning with the spike might slowly begin to interact and intertwine with the receiver’s Spiritweb in ways that begin to reflect a natural addition. This might prove especially true for children, who have not grown into their own personalities. Anyway, lots of this is conjecture born of half-remembered information and inferences born from that information, fated to slowly erode from ill-study. I just like talking about it.

One thing, I think, that muddies this decision for me is copper’s function in blocking Emotional Allomancy. Though I do have a synthesis that would explain it, I guess. Copper blocks bronze users from hearing the pulses produced by Allomancers, Heightening-derived Life Sense, a secretspen’s detection method, and preventing a singer from hearing Rhythms. These cannot, in my mind, all be different effects. Why would copper have such a breadth of ability? To rectify this, I say that copper doesn’t. It simply blocks or silences pulses of Investiture, even ones that produce an active effect like zinc and brass. (I believe it is important to seperate this from actually preventing the Invested power of Rioting or Soothing. No power is being suppressed or erased, the targets simply can’t hear the noise. Through this understanding, an Inquisitor’s sight would not be affected at all, I think. Nightblood’s sense, if he detects the quiet pulses of Investiture like a Nalthian Awakener, would be blocked. Like trying to detect a drab, whose Investiture is depleted and makes too little noise to detect. I do not believe Awakening an object within a Coppercloud would have any great effects except perhaps if your Command is something like ‘detect life as an Awakener would.’ One could argue that the object would spend its first moments of pseudo-sentience confused that whatever ability it tries to morph its given Breath into doesn’t work, and break permanently attempting to correct itself, but I find that unlikely. And I do believe that a Coppercloud would hide the auras of all within it. It works that way with other Allomancers, after all.

Your explanations are very much appreciated. The items I was hung up on being acquisition of Higher Communal Powers, it being not a guarantee for the communal animal spirit thing to align with one's inherent Anchor Point. That was one item that, upon review, was a misunderstanding on my end, there be nothing to suggest that is the case in the original post. Either way, cool stuff. Keep working on it.

Some things I do like, and others I do not. Neither is by necessity bad. First, I want to say, a lot of terms are thrown around that are not clearly defined, I feel. Communal Powers are the connections formed when entering Dracon, and I think Bound Communal Powers are the same, just with an added word? Higher Communal Bound Powers and Compounded Bound Powers are also the same thing. Why the different name? Compounding is specifically a thing on Scadrial already, and while I am a fan of terms having different meanings in context, they are distinct enough to be confusing, here. Anchor Points seem to relate to how powers are expressed on individual worlds. Breakpoints seemed to be used interchangeably with this. But what is a Compounded Anchor Point? Is this referring to Higher Communal Bound Powers? Right now, my interpretation is that Compounded Anchor Points occur when your Anchor Point matches that of your Higher Communal Bound Power, but since getting a Higher Communal Bound Power requires you to have the same Anchor Point as the animal spren you bond to when arriving in Dracon, such a thing would always occur when gaining a Higher Communal Bound Power? Another thing, those animal spren. How do they relate? A Scadrian might become a Vessel or Vector, but how do the Fox and Wolf relate to these things? Why do only they allow for? Neither has any particular association with the planet or their Shards, yet their Anchor Points/breakpoints match Scadrials/a Scadrian’s, being metal. You mention them being teachers, in what way? They are guides to the ways of the Nexus? And if they are pure Investiture spirits, why do they take the forms of animals in the first place? One thing I really enjoy is evolutions of abilities based on upon the receiver’s planet of origin. The Higher Bonded Communal Powers related to magic on the home planet; expansions on them. Beautiful. I do have nitpicks within each one. Like how Vessels can use all non-Allomantic metals, except you can use Tin, too? But since Compounded Anchor Points are always true—by my interpretation—they are also always Lerasium-level Mistborn anyway. (I feel that ‘Lerasium’ is a superfluous specification, but that is unrelated.) Under Vector, you mention a Full Compounded Vector, and the format suggests that this is a different state than having a Compounded Anchor Point. Is this related to that whole becoming, spiritually, a native to Dracon by going to the Nexus? To be honest, I don’t get that section very much at all. A small part of me wants to reverse the ‘Feruchemists get the Mistborn-flavored power and Mistborns get the Feruchemist-flavored power,’ but I believe either could work well, if refined. In other sections, something that irks me is the addition of small powers seemingly unrelated to the rest of a Higher Communal Powers gist. You say Likeners only get one surge (how is this determined?) but they also can travel to and from Shadesmar at will (which is essentially the Surge of Transportation) as well as form Investiture spirits, which seems counterintuitive to the Likener’s hyper-focus on one overpowering Surge ability. For a Luminous, making Invested spirits makes more thematic sense, but would lack the twin pairing it has in its current form with a Likener. Being able to use Investiture to increase an attribute is appropriate (perhaps more so for a Likener, as the Luminous already has a grander array of ability) but I think being able to store Investiture that has the ability to increase attribute is not, I think. Limiting it to just converting Investiture you hold into improved abilities that cannot be stored cramps less on the ordinary Feruchemist’s style. Theoretically, I believe the Crafter and Carver’s ability to create sentient-Investiture golems—complete with telepathy—could already be possible, without that being a specific bonus. Bloodsealing is already pretty close. Forging already changes an object, why not give it sentience with the added power? Soulbinders and Shatterers are suitably dramatic. Albeit many of the minutiae irk me. Why fire control? The intricacies of Shatterer insanity seem sloppily done. Why is insanity beforehand a prerequisite if you are not born one? Causing insanity, maybe. What even defines insanity, in this context. The purely by coincidence irks me too. There could easily be a reason for the death. Being physically closer to the source of their power could cause the whole Shatterer insanity thing to progress faster and cause flare up in the power, essentially causing the same effect. Also, the traveling to the Spiritual Realm to punch a Shard seems a tad much. And, the Sector of the Ripped? The heck do that be. I… am averse to providing corrections unasked, like I have done in areas. I tried to be limited, you see. Of course, I would be glad to do so upon prompting. Edit: Belatedly, I realize copying the text from note sends the font size to, like, a million. Mobile typing is evil.

The system is rigged for guys like us, who have to fight for what we have. What, some god gives this guy powers and he ain’t even got to put in the effort to make ‘em work? Apologies, that was not my intention. Would not power drawn and held be tainted by Identity—by both our natural Identity and that of the spike we used in drawing that power? By storing that power back inside a nicrosilmind before it’s full consumption, theoretically that would tie that Investiture to some combination of the two. Unless such an action is impossible. Is transferring power between metalminds impossible? Does not tapping and storing inadvertently achieve that by adding to attributes of the self before their immediate atrophy? It should be, I think. A side note, this theory was borne in my mind prior to release of The Lost Metal and it was in error that I shared the concept without proper refinement and refreshment of relevant WoBs. (Pride bids me to say I know those Hemalurgy ones, though they were disregarded in the face of idle comedic thought.)

Unfortunately, our knowledge of the specifics of Identity contamination is extremely limited, included the reasons for which it prevents Compounding. Another deathly blow we must take are the small sample size of Compounders we have seen in action. Let us take the case of Miles Dagouter. When he Compounds gold, he draws from his natural abilities as an Augur and Bloodmaker to burn metalminds he has created himself. Here, no Identity contamination is impossible and irrelevant, as all components are drawn from the same source. The Lord Ruler’s case is the same. Marsh’s is one I wish we knew more about, as his own abilities arise from Compounding. Was this a problem he had to deal with? Did Harmony integrate those spikes cleanly into his soul? Did he overcome the issue himself? Alas, we do not yet know. Either way, let us review what we ourselves have done. In our case, there are a few sources of potential Identity contamination. One is through the Soulbearer we killed to make the Feruchemical nicrosil-granting spike, containing traces of that Soulbearer’s Identity. Any nicrosilminds we create with be a fusion of our own and that Soulbearer’s Identity. The second source is through our various nicrosilminds, full of donated Metallic Arts. In this case, the blanking of Identity through Trueself ability before creation means each of these nicrosilminds come with no Identity attached. This may seem like a boon, but may also serve to prevent proper Compounding, as we will soon discuss. The last source of Identity contamination is through ourselves. When tapping our nicrosilminds for various Metallic Arts, and when filling other metalminds. Here, any Allomantic ability we draw and use, while initially blanked of Identity, mixes with our own Identity with use. Similarly, any metalmind with fill with borrowed Feruchemical powers creates a metalmind that is also diluted. While I loath to say such a thing, let us assume all of these things are true and prevent Compounding through principles of Identity contamination. In Miles Dagouter’s case, Compounding occurs when all components—metalmind, Allomantic ability, and Feruchemical ability—are absolutely uniform in their respective Identities. Let us assume that Compounding can only occur under this specific circumstance, which we have concrete evidence for. Precisely so, gentlemen. That may very well be the case. I’d bet it to be the most likely one, in fact. So how do we solve these mismatches? In the creation of our Hemalurgic spike, a potential solution would be if our donor Soulbearer had blanked their own Identity prior to creation of the spike. This could be achieved through a separate spike granting Feruchemical Aluminum, an unsealed metalmind, our donor being a full Feruchemist, what have you. The result being a spike uncontaminated of all Identity. Hopefully. The nicrosilminds we created with our original method are already blanked of Identity, so all’s good there. To erase our own Identity, we might easily use our stolen/borrowed nicrosilmind containing the ability of a Trueself to subsequently fill an aluminummind containing our own Identity. Precisely. Theoretically, we could keep our Hemalurgic spike in its original tainted state, and uniformly coat this Identity through all of our components through blanking our Identity followed by cycling our nicrosilminds’ various powers through ourselves and back into Nicrosil to introduce that Identity. Alternatively, we could forgo eliminating our own Identity if we eliminate the donor Soulbearer’s, as we have done this time around. Let us still do so be safe; blank Identities all around. So. A review. The original run included conflicting Identities primarily sourced from the contaminated Hemalurgic spike, resulting in powers tapped from unkeyed nicrosilminds to become tainted with the donor’s Identity. While this might create a uniformity in the Invested abilities we would then hold, it is not uniform with the blanked Identity of the nicrosilminds that we must burn for power. Unless we cycled that power through ourselves to contaminate it beforehand. (Would it, then, not still work? Identity would be contaminated in the same manner in all components. Hmm. That was an unexpected line of thought. I am sure this is wrong somehow. Alas. Please do correct wherever I am wrong.) In this updated case, Identity uniformity is achieved through the lack of Identity in all components. The spike bears none, the nicrosilminds bear none, and we bear none through tapping the ability to use Feruchemical Aluminum and storing our own. All stages bear the same Identity, Compounding! To this, we have no answer. Maybe. Unless burning a spike Allomantically permanently grafts it to your soul utterly seamlessly and not any of the other horrible things that probably will happen in place of that idyllic outcome.

That’s right, only one man has to die for your sick, twisted obsession with the abilities of a long dead historical figure. He would be disappointed in you, honestly. Not nearly enough bodies. Alright, alright: here’s the gist. You’re sitting canalside in Elendel. Thinking about all those people blessed by Harmony himself to eat rocks and bling themselves out. You’re a man down on his luck. All that’s left is this rod of bendalloy in your pocket, and what could a schmutz like you do with something like that? So you’re sitting there, spinning this gray stick between your fingers like you’ve regressed back primary. Then this Terris gent walks back. He’s got shiny bits and pieces flowing down his limbs and all jammed up in various facial extremities. It’s obvious; he’s got somethin’ you’ve always longed for. Only one thing to do, really. So now you’ve got yourself a Hemalurgic spike. A small piece of the powers of creation stuck inside—a Soulbearer, that’s what he was. Those things all about him were genu-ine nic-ro-sil-minds. That guy was too proud to be trusted with a power like that anyway. Even apparently useless on its pure lonesome as it is. Well then, you’re thinking, how has my situation changed? Stuck with the Ferring’s equivalent of a Gnat. But, hey, you ain’t gotta stop here. Yeah. You could do something with this. Harmony said nothing good could come of wanton Hemalurgy but you’re not all that concerned with all that right now. You call in a few favors. A lot of favors. Some railworker gives you a little tip and now you got all the metal you could ever need. And then, you start paying off some Metalborn. All they gotta do is an endure a little stabbing and then you’ll send them on their way. First guy you bring in is a Trueself; Aluminum Ferring. He’s the one you gotta start with. The spike goes in his arm—not too far, if you want ‘em to survive the removal—and you hand him a chunk of aluminum and two hefty chunks of nicrosil. You’ve been dreaming of this stuff your whole life; of course you know what you gotta do. That Trueself becomes the first to receive your bendalloy spike’s stolen ability. In the aluminummind goes his Identity. To one nicrosilmind: the ability of a Trueself, to store your Identity in aluminum. To the second: the ability of a Soulbearer, to store the ability to use your Inves—er—Metallic Arts. Those two nicrosilminds? They’re what you call unkeyed metalminds. The state they’re in, any Soulbearer would able to draw out the powers within. And that’s all you need from the Trueself. Take back the spike, call in your next Metalborn. Gal’s a Coinshot. After her, you’ll only have twenty-nine more to go. For this lass, you’ll begin the routine you’ll use for the rest of your Fullborn suite. A chunk of aluminum, a chunk of nicrosil, spike goes in the arm. Give her the nicrosilmind that the Trueself made. She draws out the stored ability of a Trueself, and uses that to store her Identity. Once that’s done, she stores her own ability of Allomantic steel in its own nicrosil. Take back the spike, that’s all you need from her. Next Metalborn comes in. They’re a Lurcher. And so it goes down the line. End result? You got thirty-two unkeyed nicrosilminds. To access them, all you gotta do is spike yourself. Now, you might be thinking, ‘Hey, the conners’re after me cuz I killed that dude, and those nicrosilminds ain’t have enough to last me forever.’ To which I call you a drunken idjit. You’re a Fullborn now. Compound. All those abilities stored up in that there nicrosil? Compounding gives you all you an infinite amount. Just be sure to renew your stockpile whenever you start to run out. And if you’re thinking some hotshot hero is gonna tear out your spike like the Ascendant Warrior to the Lord Ruler, you have a contingency. In that case, do not let the power go. As long as you absorb the ability of a Soulbearer from your nicrosilminds and never for a moment stop, it’ll be like you never lost the spike in the first place. In fact, I raise you! You heard it here first, wield the powers of the Lord Ruler’s Bands of Mourning without a single Hemalurgic spike! It’s free!