Comatose

The possibility of the scene from the comic occurring at some point has definitely already crossed my mind To reset, she would have to shift back to a human form, close to her original mass for an instant before shifting into a new form. This means that if you trapped her in un-survivable conditions, they would need to kill her almost instantly. Before shifting into a non-maintainable form (something far from humanoid) for a second time (example: changing into a chunk of metal twice in a row), I think she would need more of a cool down, somewhere between several minutes to an hour. This means that if you did manage to trap her in extreme conditions, she would likely exhaust all of her options for surviving within the first minute, and then you would have at least ten (with a maximum of an hour) or so to let the conditions kill her. This is why it essential that the trap not be solvable with simple modifications. If you just trap her underwater, she'll probably find a way to survive, unless you can keep her there indefinitely (I think the longer she stays out of human form, the longer her "cool down" period gets). However, if you trap her underwater, and then electrify it, or trap her in a furnace, you are more likely to have success. As for the limitation, I picture it having a cognitive base. The longer she stays in a form, the more she starts to "think" she is that form, so her powers prevent her from "thinking" she is an inanimate object by de-transforming her. It takes some time for the "idea" of the form to leave her, hence the cool down period. As far as minor alterations go, the idea of a copper block vs a gold block are similar, as they are the same size, shape, and made of similar material. This is also why she can maintain humanoid forms indefinitely. Relatively sspeaking, they are VERY similar to her true form/mass (humans are more similar to each other than a box is to a dog, for example). The overall answer to your question is that it depends on what forms she uses, relative to their similarity in shape and property to a human body. Do those ranges help? Material changes affect her senses. She can make her skin more or less sensitive. Changing into metal would remove her sense of touch, but she could also selectively change (also keep in mind a change this drastic would be harder to maintain). Her defensive transformations are basically instantaneous (similar to Obliteration's teleportation). If she changes herself into metal, an epic's powers affecting metal would affect her, until she detransforms. Any effect that constitutes harm though would trigger her ability, and she would de-transform automatically. The strength of the transformation depends on what she is transforming into. If her muscle mass/the material she coats herself with is strong enough, she will break the box. If she is growing, keep in mind that her defensive ability would stop her from being crushed, which also could result in bursting the container. I also saw her ability as more of a PI, but then I thought of some ways to get around it, and wasn't sure if that counted or not. I guess Fortuity's precog ability counted despite the possibility of check-mating though, so that makes sense. I hope that all makes sense! EDIT: Also, regarding her weakness:

"Welcome to New York! I've been waiting for you! Welcome to New York, Welcome to New York!" Taylor danced down the broken highway with her signature awkwardness. New York might be gone, along with her darling cats Meredith and Olivia Benson, but that didn't mean she couldn't rock out to one of her own sick beats. She hadn't trademarked the term, "This sick beat," for nothing, after all. It also didn't matter that trade marks also didn't really apply any more. She was still Taylor Swift. She made her own rules. "And you can want, who you want. Boys n'..." The music cut out suddenly. Taylor scowled, letting her righteous fury mar her perfect features. She was running out of charged iPods, which meant she would need to find some electricity soon. Still scowling, she reached into her bag, she placed the dead iPod into a Ziploc bag marked "Haters," and took a fresh one out of the bag marked "Starbucks Lovers." It was not until a new song began that she allowed her expression to settle into a look of contentment. "I don't know about you; I'm feeling 22!" Taylor supposed that one benefit of her shape-shifting powers was that she could be 22 forever. Without noticing, Taylor subtly shifted her appearance, making herself appear a few years younger. How old had she been when Calamity arrived? It was too bad all her super model and musician friends hadn't become epics as well. Her company was a gift, after all, and it seemed a shame that she had no one to share it with. If only Olivia Benson and Meridith could be here! A while back, Taylor had found a weaker shape-shifter who could only turn into different kinds of cats. For a while, she had forced the shape shifter to follow her around, alternating between the forms of Olivia Benson and Meridith, but the little epic completely failed to mimic Olivia Benson's snarky attitude or Meridith's perfect pout. She had been left with no choice but to kill the little epic, lest he ruin Olivia Benson and Meridith's memory. Taylor was shocked from her song-induced revery when a drifter lept out from behind a nearby bush and menaced her with a knife. "Hand over the bag, lady, and make it quick if you don't want any trouble." Taylor could feel the vagabond's eyes running up and down her super-model's physique. She waited for the pang of recognition when he would realize just who he was trying to rob. "The bag, lady. I don't want to hurt you, but these are desperate times, what with everything that's going on in the Dalles..." Taylor rolled her eyes, and proceeded to tune out the rest of the man's ramblings. How dare he not realize who she was. When 1989 came out, Taylor had been the biggest thing to happen since Frozen! When the man took a step closer with the knife, Taylor lost her patience entirely. In her stylish 2 inch heels, she was normally a perfect 6" tall, but as her anger grew, so did she, until she towered a full foot over the man. Her slim but toned arms swelled as she put on muscle. Her signature outfit that bared her midriff but not her belly button expanded with the rest of her. The man turned to run, but Taylor moved quickly, catching him by the neck in her enhanced grip. "Look at you," she sneered, not bothering to make her face look cute. "You're nothing but a no good hater! You know what I do to haters? I don't let them bother me. I just shake them off, like they are nothing. You hear that? You are nothing, just a worthless nobody. And I, am Taylor Swift! The man's face was beginning to turn blue from lack of air. Sighing,Taylor shrugged and then turned, flipping the man over her head and smashing him head first into the crumbling pavement. Then, she took a few deep breaths to clam herself, and shrunk bag to her regular size. The man had mentioned the Dalles, that meant Taylor was getting close. She had heard rumours that a group of normal humans had formed a community there, supposedly free from epic control. If that was true, there was a chance that her target would be hiding there, or that someone there could at least give her some sort of lead. As she continued to walk down the highway, Taylor put her ear-buds back in and started singing to herself.

Okay, I'm bringing Taylor in. Let me know if you see any problems with the post. I decided to bring her into the Dalles, so that she could meet up with Glamour eventually. Right now I just have her walking down the highway, so anyone else is free to intercept her. In the mean time, I'm going to try to catch up so I at least have some idea of what is all going on in the thread, but for now, assume Taylor is mostly clueless

I would definitely be open to teaming up That sounds like a fun plotline. As for Sirce's de-spoilered question about her mimicry ability, she can mimic vocal chords perfectly, especially if she knows them well. The shape-shift ability has a mental component, so as long as she is thinking about be like someone, she can mimic them down to their finger-prints. As for the question about travelling, my intention was to have her passing through Oregon, and then get caught up in what is going on there, so her secret mission would not have to interfere with her participation in the story. I'm fine with the overlap as long as you are!

Tech with lots of moving parts is more difficult. She might be able to turn her hand into a gun VERY briefly (less than a second), but I don't think she could maintain it long enough to fire, especially since firing would also require her to shift part of herself within the gun into gunpowder in the right amount, AND I think she would need to be holding the bullet she intended to fire, since I don't think she can separate pieces of herself like that. Her chosen method of killing is crushing things, slicing things, or going HULK-SWIFT on them It depends. I chose Taylor Swift because it seems like she's the most famous popular culture type I could think of now-adays. Anyone who liked pop music before Calamity would likely still know and recognize her, though to people in David's generation only her name would be recognizable, or they might have no idea who she is, as you said. I also picked her because she's popular with tweens, so she would still be very recognizable to some young people.

Thanks for the answers! I checked through the initial epic post, and didn't see any either. Still undecided whether I'd like to debut in Dalles or Astoria. I see my epic playing more of a supporting role to one of the more powerful epics, but she also has her own agenda, so she could end up in Dalles as well. Okay, here we go

So, I'm kind of interested in joining this RP. I love the Reckoners, and the threads I've skimmed seem to be a lot of fun. I have to admit I'm a little intimidated though. It seems like there is a lot going on here, and I'm not exactly sure where to start in. If there are any "must read" parts, please direct my attention to them. For a character, I'm thinking of bringing someone new to Oregon (mostly so I can claim ignorance about most other characters, and learn about them as I go). Any suggestions on how I could do that, or how to get her involved? The character I have in mind is fairly solitary, and has a very specific mission that brings her to Oregon, and a very important secret she will do anything to keep Also, she's a shapeshifter. When I was looking through your list of epics, I couldn't find another straight up shape shifter, but if there is one, please let me know so I don't double up on power sets. Also, do we post characters here first, and then in the Epics of Oregon thread once they are approved, or do we send them to a moderator first? Anyways, sorry for butting in. I hope I'm not interrupting anything. Any pointers or suggestions will be much appreciated! As soon as I get some answers I'll put together a character description

I probably will not be able to post very regularly for the next month or so, but I thought I would get my ideas out on screen, and see what you think of them/if there are any changes that need to be made. I'm still a little uncertain about some of the nuances of your world, so please let me know if I overstep or make any mistakes. As for the concerns about keeping the RP alive, something that helps with MBI is our central location and major plot-lines. While characters are allowed their own separate plots, the central plot-lines keep things moving and provide opportunities for conflict and interaction. The central location gives characters more opportunity to interact with one another. Now, this RP is a little different because you are dealing with large tribes and nations as well as individuals. Since the tribes seem fairly insular (as there is no interbreeding), it might be difficult for people of different tribes to interact. Perhaps you could play it on a larger scale, using character viewpoints to spell out larger action sequences. We could move in macro time, as each nation/god takes turns moving against the others. Example: I post as God X, of Tribe Y. I start my post with a viewpoint from the diety, to give context and motive, and then trickle down through the post from the viewpoints of tribal leaders, down to the viewpoints of a few ground-level characters, to let the other players know what is going on in my society, and how the rest of the world will be effected. Once the rotation of posts is completed, time can jump forward, and we can update again with the progress our society has made. If we want to do direct character to character interactions as well (especially in the cases of any drifters we have in the mix), those can either be addressed in the macro post, or in separate threads that we can tag to specify where they fit in the greater Paidia timeline. Anyways, just an idea of how to liven things up a bit, since you seem to be having some troubles. Without further ado, here are my character ideas

This idea is very interesting to me, I'm just trying to decide if I have time to keep up. I'm also not sure how claiming deities/cultures work, specifically the main ones. I have some ideas for a Water god/goddess, so I'd like to know if I would be free to work on them, or if, because Water is one of the main ones, if there are some restrictions. If that's the case, I might do a lesser water deity. My other idea was for a chaos/trickster deity (modeled after Eris from Greek mythology likely), who likes causing strife between other gods/cultures. My other question was about how sub-attributes for gods work. Like, could my water deity have trickster/chaotic sub attributes (since water is mercurial and constantly changing), or are gods tied solely to single attributes? I'm thinking something like how Athena from greek mythology is the Goddess of knowledge, but also associated to a lesser extent with law, war, virginity, industry, etc, or how Artemis is a goddess of the wilds, the hunt, the moon, childbirth, etc. With this system, I would guess that potential sub-attributes could not be this far reaching, as that would cause significant overlap with other deities, but would overlap of related concepts be possible? That question got really rambly, so please let me know if it doesn't make sense. As for a character, I was thinking of making a drifter (to facilitate meetings with characters of other cultures), who is followed/haunted by his/her god for some reason to be determined. Another idea I had was for some sort of death themed god with necromantic undertones. Would that be possible? Anyways, great ideas! I'll let you know if I come up with a character and feel like I have time. Any answers to my questions are appreciated

I didn't see this until now, so sorry if this discussion is already happening in the Firefight spoilers board, but I just started a topic there on a related topic (Steelheart's Origins - FIREFIGHT SPOILERS!), so maybe we could combine discussions? If not, without going into Firefight spoilers, great analysis!

We only got teasers of it in both Steelheart and Firefight, but I'm hoping we get more of Steelheart's origin story in the next book. Steelheart was widely recognized as one of the most (if not the most) powerful epics. The sheer number of offensive abilities he has, combined with his blanket invulnerability to all harm is kind of ridiculous, even when comparing him to other Higher Epics such as Obliteration or Regalia (yes, I know there is some debate over whether or not she is a 'high' epic because of her lack of prime invincibility, but she is still considered to be incredibly powerful). Anyways, in my view there is something more to Steelheart's history. We know from Firefight that he was a track star and a bully, and his fear/weakness is when people don't fear him. One other interesting thing about his powers I would like to highlight is his ability to turn things into steel with his emotions. Note that compared to his other powers, his ability to turn things into steel seems much more involuntary. He may be able to control it when he wants to, but it also seems like he uses it without trying to as well. Anyways, here's my theory about Steelheart's past. He was involved in a school shooting or hostage scenario, in which one of the victims who he had bullied threatened his life and told him he was not afraid of him anymore. People who often exhibit bullying behavours usually overcompensate to remain in positions of control, which could explain Steelheart's overabundance of powers, and his weakness. Bullying behaviours also often come from places of insecurity, so maybe his turning things to steel/emotional response power is related to him wanting to distance himself from his insecurities or uncomfortable emotions (such as guilt, fear, embarrassment, shame, etc). His name IS Steelheart, indicating he perhaps wishes he had a 'heart of steel'. I know that we still aren't entirely sure how an epic's powers are determined, but what do you folks think?

I think this would be an awesome animated feature, actually. I think the magic would be done more justice animated than live action. I'm thinking something like the style in Coraline.

This is super cool, so I thought I had better join in, even though I spend most of my time running the Mistborn RP. Comatose - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Hey all, The staff have noticed that some of the posts in this topic have been getting a little bit rude lately, and we would just like to remind everyone that while disagreement and differences of opinion are fine, we all need to be conscious of how our opinions are being expressed, particularly in circumstances where people may take a response personally. Everyone, whether out of ignorance or carelessness, makes mistakes sometimes, and it is important to recognize that. So, if you are called out for saying something that offends someone or makes someone uncomfortable, apologize, even if you didn't mean it. It's fine to specify that you didn't know or did think your statements offended anyone, but if someone feels they were hurt by something you said, then they were hurt. You don't get to tell someone else how to feel. Then, if you are still confused, you can ask questions, or if you think you get it, keep what you learned in mind for future posts. Remember, the person offering correction is speaking from their feelings, and is probably not meaning to attack you personally by pointing out a mistake. If you do feel targeted, please talk to a staff member. Civil discourse goes both ways, of course. If you feel like something written on the boards is offensive or hurtful, give the poster the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they didn't mean for their post to be read that way, maybe they didn't realize the implications of their words, or maybe they didn't realize who they were talking to. When expressing how something has made you feel, focus on your feelings, offer a correction, and then leave it. If this issue does not improve, then talk to a staff member. Online environments lack many of the social cues real life ones do, so its important to compensate for this by being considerate. Basically, let's all try to be a little nicer to each other. I think we are all pretty good people here, and no one genuinely wants to hurt anyone, so it's important to keep that in mind. Posts that are knowingly intended to be hurtful or belittling of others is, of course, not acceptable. Anyways, happy Renarin debates! I myself have always liked the character, and shipped him and Shallan over Shallan and Adolin (and ANYONE over Shallan and Kaladin). However, I also missed the cues that hinted that he might have mild autism, so I'm interested to reread the book at some point with that in mind.

Two epics, one more serious, one just for fun. I'll let you decide which is which. Epic #1: Name: Deceit Primary Power: Near Perfect Mind Reading - Unlimited range on this one, but the farther away, the greater the focus required. Also, more focus is required when searching for specific thoughts/memories. So, in a room full of people, this epic could perfectly read stream of consciousness thoughts and accurately predict exactly what every person is going to do based on those thoughts. However, if he/she (haven't decided a gender) wanted to know a specific secret or bit of information, they would have to focus on the specific person, blocking out the thoughts of others. He/she can also use personal connections to hop from one mind to another (example, reading your mind could allow him to locate and jump to the mind of anyone you know. This process is easier the better you know the person). This power also functions as an almost prime invincibility, as it gives pre-cog like powers, except it does not work on non-sentient objects. Secondary Powers: Mental (as in not light-based) illusion generation, and shape shifting. Weakness: Mind Reading and Illusion powers do not work on people he/she cares for. This is especially debilitating since her/his mind reading powers act as supernatural empathy. The more time this epic spends in the mind of another, the more she/he comes to understand that person, and is more likely to care for them. Thus, the full extent of this primary power is used conservatively to avoid triggering the weakness. Brand of Evil - Liar liar pants of fire. Enjoys making people believe things that are not true just for the the fun of it, uses abilities to cause general confusion and chaos. Epic #2 Name: Ms. Frizzle. Primary Power: Can endow any school bus with the transformative powers and limited sentience. This power can only be used on one bus at a time. There are no limits of the bus's transformative capabilities, and it is also able to transform anyone who is inside at the time of transformation. Secondary Power: The ability to create perfectly matched thematic outfits at will. Weakness: Her powers don't work when she is afraid. Good thing she isn't afraid of anything . Brand of Evil: Enjoys putting third graders in life and death situations for educational purposes. EDIT: Realized this is a bit off topic since I'm not saying which epic I would be. Let's say I'd be Deceit, and in that case the gender would be male. Though, on the other hand, I would also totally love to be Ms. Frizzle, so I guess it works either way.

So we know that sources of investiture such as atium cannot be soulcasted, or are incredibly difficult to soulcast. Could Shallan soulcast Vin's other metals though? If she were able to do that before Vin could close the distance, then it would be Shallan's lightweaving, soulcasting, and shardblade against Vin's atium. She could also potentially do the same to Vin's weapons. That being said, we have also seen how dangerous Vin can be without metals, so even with Shallan's powers, Vin would be difficult to checkmate, especially because of Shallan's lack of combat experience. However, if Shallan were able to soulcast Vin's ingested metals, it would make the fight much more even.

Regarding Savanthood, it is important to remember that the effects vary with the metal, with pewter and tin having the most dramatic effects and bronze and copper having the least (interesting that the extremes are both internal metals). It is also important to remember that near constant burning is required, which is why Inquisitors become savants - they need to burn iron or steel constantly in order to see, just as Spookj took to burning tin constantly in Hero of Ages. Zane and Kelsier, on the other hand, were not savants. Zane's power came from both his spike, and, I assume, a lot of practice, whereas Kelsier consciously focused on iron and steel in his training. For this reason, I think you can separate allomantic power, skill, and talent/affinity. Vin, for example, had what I would argue is more of a talent/affinity for allomancy, which she was born with, as well as power. She gained skill through her training. Elend, on the other hand, was more on the power end of things. Zane's spike increased his power and his affinity, but he would have still needed practice to bring out his skill. Kelsier obviously had some natural talent, but a large part of what made him powerful was his trained skill with the metals. The Inquisitors, like Zane, gain their abilities through a combination of all three. Their spikes grant them increased power and affinity for the metal, and then they develop this talent as well as skill through constant burning. When Brandon was talking about Zane and Kelsier I think he was referring to the fact that both of their skill levels were on the upper limit. I would, however, argue that Elend's power would be superior to both. The Lord Ruler would arguably be the epitome of all three of these areas. Now to apply this analysis to the original question of seeing trace metals. I believe this is a product of savanthood and hemalurgy, which involves an increase in skill and affinity. The Inquisitors can see these things because of the precision they gain through constant practice, and the increase in affinity they have for the metal. While their power is also increased, I think a large number of spikes/lerasium would be needed to endow them with enough power to affect the metals in compounds. Since I'm posting this several weeks too late, and I feel like I am rambling and off topic, I'll stop talking now. Sorry if none of this makes sense.

Not yet, it'll be at least a year probably, so maybe January 2015? We're gonna start consulting our families for workable dates as soon as finals are done. Thanks guys

I would like to stop lurking for a moment in order to announce that I am one exam and one day away from being done my first semester of law school AND my boyfriend Craig and I got engaged this past month . Have to say I am very excited for the holidays!

Ah, this is the gem I was referring to before. Never gets old Sorry Chaos. But then there is also this one from Reaves, which I think was probably accurate at the time: Especially given what I said about Kredik Shaw (Wish I could find that quote!)

I forgot about that one! I thought I was soo clever too. I agree that it would have been cool. Too bad it didn't follow any of the rules of Hemalurgy at all

My favorite thing to do on there is to reread our hero of ages theories. If I remember correctly, my theory about the mist spirit and the deepness were particularly embarrassing. I did, however, support the theory that hemalurgy stole the other powers, which can't be said for everyone (Chaos, haha). Man, remember when we didn't know what hemalurgy did? Or when we figured out that "piercings of the hero bit"? Or when Ookla would troll us with ambiguous statements about our level of correctness? Those were the days, haha.

I thought in the same place we learned about Feruchemy, buy maybe I'm mis-remembering that quote.

So I know these are in that google doc that was around a while back, and in the Q&A thread as well, but I thought I would put them here, just so that they can hopefully not be lost and get answered at some point. The last two about seeking might be ineligible, as I know he has rafo'd similar questions, but I'll leave them here just in case: Mistborn: 1. Would it be possible to get a general timeline of the following events, in relation to the time of the Lord Ruler’s Ascension and to each other: the birth of the Second Generation, the time period when kandra were hunted down and killed by Mistborn, the creation of the contract system and of the creation of the latter generations? 2. How much do the Terris people in the breeding programs and the obligators who work with them know about Feruchemy? Cosmere: 3. Could a Seeker who was properly trained and experienced detect AonDor or Breath? 4. What is it exactly that a seeker is detecting?