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There have been extensive discussions about potential FTL mechanics for allomancy in the third trilogy, and a few about mechanical-driven allomancy (I haven't really followed all of those ones but one example is here). But it occurs to me that we've all overlooked the potential for very interesting applications of metal based magic in electronics: Suppose that in the third trilogy the Scadrians not only develop space flight but also artificial intelligence, that other great SF staple. The abilities and/or personality of an AI could depend crucially on its hardware composition, either simply the native metals themselves or more subtly the presence of a feruchemical or hemalurgic charge. It's easy to imagine someone building their AI with a "heat sink" that instead stores sense-of-self, mass, or any number of other options. One division (and often in-world question) in SF is whether AI in a given universe are alive/have souls. If Brandon chose to go with the "AI are people too" camp (which I think he would, given that everything has a spritual and cognitive aspect), then we could end up with AI displaying abilities in the metallic arts. The above was my seed idea, and the one that I find most interesting. Still, I half expect this thread to be hijacked by related possibilities: >One extension would be full-on androids, rather than the ship's-computer style AI. This type of story would focus more on the physical abilities than personality effects. >Another extension (or maybe independent topic) is cybernetics. The idea of ability-enhancing implants has a lot of potential both in opposition to and in combination with the various metallic arts. Then again, there could be enough room in a trilogy for all of the above. Now, there's an exciting thought!

While I have moderate reservations about the whole Nalan=Darkness thing, I really disagree that the other ambassador would also be a herald. Even finding two of them together at the feast seems momentous, and I strongly doubt that two would be working so closely together. I think they meant it. They have gone their own ways, pursuing their own goals as they see fit. In the various actions we've attributed to them (the vandalism in particular) I see at the least an absence of coordination, and elements of willful separation. They may be ignoring each other, or they may be working at cross purposes based on different opinions of how to help save the world. (In fact, I think I can only accept Nalan=Darkness if the heralds are working towards conflicting goals.) Obviously this conjecture does not preclude two or more of them posing as ambassadors together, but my gut feeling says no, there is a master/minion relationship going on.

Are the heralds currently working at cross purposes? How many parties were there to the Oathpact?

This is the only thread where the Legion excerpt has been mentioned at all. Can someone confirm that the link to that one is still good? When I click on it I get redirected back to the vault top page, which currently shows the Lift interlude. EDIT: looks like it was a computer issue. Can't load it on the desktop I used first, but trying it on a different machine worked fine.