potatopicker

I don't think that Allomancy is the way it was done, because we are explicitly told that Bleeder could only access one Allomantic of Feurechemical ability at a time, via her single spike. Seeing as how we only see her using one ability at a time, and the addition of an second spike played such an critical role in the story, I don't find it likely that emotional Allomancy was involved. Maybe she'd gotten a hold of Lerasium, but if so, why didn't she use more abilities than one? That being said, perhaps the strongest evidence that something like that could be happening is that Bleeder only seems to be able to communicate with Wax while their in close proximity, possibly in visible range, both at the party, in the square, etc. This is similar to the limitations that we've seen from emotional (and other forms of) Allomancy. Lumping the ability into the metal spike is the easiest answer, but also seems like it could be a bit too convenient for me. Note: edited to remove spoiler tags. Here's to being new on the forums!

As I read Steelheart, my mind went immediately to this Writing Excuses podcast from 2011: http://www.writingexcuses.com/2011/12/04/writing-excuses-6-27-fantasy-setting-yard-sale/ where the crew brainstorms a world where people are given magical powers based on a passing astrological phenomenon (dust from meteors or a passing comet) that only comes every couple of hundred or thousand of years. Granted, the podcast takes the idea to different places, but the appearance of Calamity and the coinciding appearance of magical abilities in people seemed incredibly familiar.

Assuming the device does what it's said to do, I think that it's likely that the machine is a mistfabial that uses a combination of Allomantic bronze, to seek for Investiture, and Allomantic duralumin to increase the range of the device. That would explain why the Aviar were so affected when the device was opened. To give credit where credit is due: What I don't understand is how the specifications of a machine like that are supposed to help the locals develop more advanced technologies. If the machine is any kind of fabrial, it would be impossible to duplicate on a different Shard/Splinter world. Even the "concepts and ideas" explained (realmatic theory?) wouldn't be as applicable to the way Investiture works on the archipelago. The other problem I have is that the assumption (held by Sixth, so perhaps he is simply wrong) is that these instructions will somehow help the locals build machines that can fly or be space-worthy.

From Brandon's website:

I love the artwork, I'm not as big of a fan of the Harry Potter-esque font for the title. Excited to see Brandon branch out to a new fan base!

I was rereading The Hero of Ages and stumbled across this: It looks as though "shadow of self" is another term for Sliver. And what/who is the shadow being discussed by the Kandra in this context? The mist spirit Preservation? Might we see a Harmony-spirit wandering in the Elendel Basin soon?