theory [Calamity Spoilers] The Rules of Transfersion

[skaa]

Preface/Opening Rant: Calamity's Epic Downfall

Brandon has billed the Reckoners series as a superhero-themed story, and it definitely shows. Like your typical superhero story, there is a crazy amount of variety in the powers, without any apparent rhyme or reason (mashed potato powers?!). The elegance of Realmatics (or even Rithmatics) is replaced by the anarchy of Marvel and DC.

But like the Marvel and DC universes, it's not complete anarchy. Even in a world where mashed potato powers exist, there are some things that you could call rules. Almost all these rules are unnamed (except the Large Dispersal Rule, which I'll mention again later). There is the rule that Epics cannot receive powers from Gifters. There is the rule that an Epic will feel pain if a separate entity with the same DNA as him manifests his power. One unnamed rule (which I am going to name) was repeatedly demonstrated in the series:

Epic Downfall Rule: Each Epic has a weakness that, when he is directly confronted by it, diminishes his power.

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However, if there’s one fact we can hold on to, it’s this: every Epic has a weakness.

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But this fear? It seemed to bloom alongside my powers. It's like the powers...needed something to be afraid of.

I believe Calamity himself was subject to the Epic Downfall Rule, and that his weakness was the idea that humans in general are inherently good. This seemed obvious to me while reading the scene where Calamity was defeated.

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“Do you fear that?” I asked him softly. “That we aren’t what you’ve thought? Does it terrify you to know that deep down, men are not monsters? That we are, instead, inherently good?”

He stared at me, then collapsed, curling up on the glass floor. The red light within him dimmed, and then—just like that, he faded away. Until there was nothing.

I thought it was the natural conclusion that Calamity was vanquished using the same method that was successfully used on Steelheart, Limelight, Nightwielder, Newton, Mitosis, Sourcefield, and other Epics defeated offscreen due to the Epic Downfall Rule. But apparently (and this frankly shocked me a bit) this didn't even occur to some people after reading that scene. I guess it's not as obvious as I thought.

It is NOT my intention to make this whole post centered upon Calamity (hint: look at the title), but some parts of it will rest upon the assumption that Calamity had an Epic Downfall. I will be using Calamity several times as a data point in ways that would not be valid if he is meant to be The Exception. In this preface I will try to persuade the reader about the usefulness of my interpretation.

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“Calamity,” I repeated, “is an Epic. A...person. Regalia discovered the truth, even talked to him or her. This thing that destroyed our lives, it’s not a force of nature. Not a star, or a comet...it’s a person.” I took a deep breath. “And I’m going to kill Calamity.”

Some people might complain that being prone to the Epic Downfall Rule lessens Calamity's "special" status, but in fact I believe this is a good thing. One of the most awesome revelations in the series in my opinion is that Calamity is not unique. We now know that he came from a dimension inhabited by other beings of his species (e.g. Invocation), beings that feel emotion, follow rules, and are given responsibilities. Calamity even spoke of others of his kind who supposedly "shirked their duty".

This revelation is important because it makes us realize the real scope of this fictional universe. Rather than Calamity being some ineffable being that was beyond all rules and analysis, we can now see Calamity as just another player on the immensely vast field that is the Reckoners Multiverse.

More importantly, we now know that the powers do not depend on him or any of his kind remaining present. Blain, Tavi, and Firefight all have powers years after Invocation left. David, Megan, and Prof still had powers even after freeing themselves from Calamity. The powers remained in those versions of Earth because the powers are an inherent part of the multiverse they live in.

The powers remained...and so did the weaknesses. Fire still renders Megan powerless even after she became completely immune from the darkness. This means that the Epic Downfall Rule exists whether Calamity is there or not. Magical weakness is inherent to that multiverse's magic system, and that red glowing didgeridooing slontze had one, too.

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Part I: Transfersion and Impedance

I got the term "transfersion" from the "Great Transfersion", the event where Steelheart turned almost every non-living thing in Chicago into steel, thus creating Newcago. I define transfersion as any Epic effect that transmutes the nature of things. Each transfersion ability has an attribute. In the case of Steelheart's "Steel Transfersion", the attribute is steel.

Early on in the series, Megan and David described a quirk of Steel Transfersion:

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“Some things might have survived in their original form,” Megan said. “In fact, it’s likely that they did. Steelheart’s transfersion powers are insulated by metal.”

“They’re what?” Cody asked.

“Insulated by metal,” I repeated. “He exerts a kind of … ripple of transfersion that travels through and changes nonmetal substances like sound travels through air or waves move through a pool of water. If the wave hits metal—particularly iron or steel—it stops. He can affect other kinds of metal, but the wave moves more slowly. Steel stops it entirely.”

One might prefer to believe that this quirk has no implication beyond Steelheart. If that's what you think, that's perfectly okay, but you might want to stop reading this post. Anyway, I theorize that this insulation effect applies to other Transfersion-type powers, and is therefore a general rule for Transfersion:

Likeness Limit Rule: Things that are similar in nature to a Transfersion's attribute resist transfersion, and things that fully match the attribute block transfersion completely.

The Likeness Limit Rule explains why Gifters can't Gift to other Epics. Gifters are Power Transfersers, and the Likeness Limit hinders them from Transfersing powers to people who already have powers.

The Likeness Limit Rule also explains why Megan could only pull shadows of alternate worlds when she wasn't at her full capacity. Just as Steelheart found it more difficult to Transferse steel onto non-steel metal, Megan requires more effort to Transferse a core possibility onto her current core possibility, especially if the two core possibilities are close to each other. Ephemeral Possibility Transfersion (a weaker form of the power that only pulls shadows of possibilities) is much easier, so she relied on that for most of the series.

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Part II: Transfersion and Weakness

Suppose Gifter Bob had the power of enhanced strength, and his weakness is the sound of a chihuahua barking. Bob Gifted his super strength to average Joe, and then Bob went off to terrorize some people in another country. Joe, excited about his new power, decided to impress some girls by lifting a 500 kilogram barbell with just one hand. Suddenly, a woman approached, her pet chihuahua barking madly in her bag.

According to David's Large Dispersal Rule ("An Epic's weakness has less and less influence on their powers the farther you get from the Epic's presence"), Bob is too far away for his super strength to be affected by that particular chihuahua who's barking at Joe. But what of Joe? Will the power Gifted to him remain? Will it fade away? Will Joe have a sudden urge to kill the dog with the barbell? Does Bob's weakness have any effect on Joe at all?

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"...Darkness? You want to blame the terrible things that Epics do on some nebulous idea or feeling? Bah. Men destroy themselves because that's what they deserve, not because of some mystical force or emotion!"

Now let us look at an example from the books. Calamity's weakness can be triggered by someone who conquered their fear in order to save others. A person that Calamity has Gifted experiences this weird compulsive urge to lose all empathy, be utterly selfish, and be absolutely terrified of Epic Downfall every time they use their Gifted power, and this feeling vanishes once they start freeing themselves from their Gifter. Despite Larcener's sneering and self-rationalization, there has to be a connection there.

Does this mean that the darkness is part of Gifting in general? Obviously not, otherwise the Reckoners would have felt it when they used Prof's powers. Rather, the darkness was part of Calamity's Gifting. Somehow, the power being Gifted knows its owner's weakness, and fears that weakness.

Downfall Avoidance Rule: When a sentient being is Transfersed by an Epic, the power becomes aware of the concept of ownership and will defer to a "true owner" by actively avoiding his weakness.

So in the above example, Joe would definitely be affected by the chihuahua.

Once I came to that conclusion, it was surprisingly easy to find evidence in support of it, not just from Gifters but also from other Transfersers of humans as well.

For example, sneezing allowed David to grow back from being shrunk by Loophole. The shrinking transfersion fled him the moment he manifested Loophole's weakness. Note that Loophole's Downfall is supposed to be triggered by her own sneezing, not anyone else's, but somehow the power was still repulsed by sneezing even when it was from the target of transfersion (i.e. David).

In the first book, there were two instances where David unexpectedly couldn't use the tensor powers properly. In both cases, he experienced a moment of failure before using the powers.

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Suddenly I felt like an idiot. I dug in the zip pocket on my trouser leg, fishing for my tensor. I pulled it out triumphantly. Maybe I could dig down to the steel catacombs, or even just dig out to the side and find a safer path.

I pulled on the glove, and only then did I realize that the tensor had been shredded. I stared at it with a sinking despair. It had been in the pocket on the leg I’d landed on when falling, and the pouch had been ripped at the bottom. The tensor was missing two fingers, and the electronics had been shattered, pieces hanging off like eyes drooping out of a zombie’s sockets in an old horror movie.

...

My mobile flashed. I tapped it. “David.” Prof’s voice. He sounded winded. “Use the tensor.”

“Broken,” I whispered. “I ruined it in the crash.”

Silence.

“Try it anyway,” Prof urged.

...

I focused on the tensor, on the vibrations. For a moment I thought I felt something, a low hum—deep, powerful.

It was gone. This was stupid. Like trying to saw a hole in a wall using only a bottle of soda.

“Sorry, Prof,” I said. “It’s busted up good.”

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Something moved in the opening to the building behind Cody. I cursed, raising my rifle—but without the stock it was very hard to aim properly. I pulled the trigger as an armed Enforcement soldier leaped out. I missed. He fired a staccato burst.

There was no sound from Cody, but I could see the blood spray. No, no, NO! I thought, taking off at a run. I fired again, this time clipping the soldier on the shoulder. It didn’t get past his armor, but he turned from Cody, sighting on me.

He fired. I raised my left hand, the one with the tensor. I did it almost by instinct. It was tougher to make the song this time, and I didn’t know why.

In the first scene, David must have felt like a failure many times over: In his mind, he failed to bring Megan to safety, failed to hide from Enforcement, and failed to keep intact his only means of escape. Even though he really was capable of using the powers without the gloves, his feeling of failure triggered the Downfall Avoidance Rule, so the powers fled him.

In the second scene, his failure to hit the enemy led to Cody being hurt, and then he failed to take down the enemy with his second shot, but this at least distracted the enemy from finishing Cody off. David was able to use the tensor, but there was resistance. The power was close to leaving him.

There are still some open questions. I don't know if the Downfall Avoidance Rule had anything to do with the Diggers going crazy, because we don't know what Digzone's weakness was. I also don't know why the rule no longer applied to Megan after she started "owning" her power (perhaps because the power has accepted her as its true owner?).

(Update: The open questions above have mostly been answered by a deeper analysis of power ownership, as I discussed here.)

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Part III: Transfersion and Death

When Steelheart died in the first book, we saw that part of his corpse turned to steel:

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Prof came walking back with something in his hand. A skull, blackened and charred. Metal glinted through the soot. A steel skull. He turned it toward me. There was a groove in the right cheekbone, like the trail left by a bullet.

“Huh,” I said, taking the skull. “If the bullet could hurt his bones, why couldn’t the blast?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if his death triggered his tranfersion abilities,” Prof said. “Turning what was left of him as he died—his bones, or some of them—into steel.”

Seemed like a stretch to me. But then, strange things happened around Epics. There were oddities, especially when they died.

We've only seen a few other "odd" deaths in the series, but all of those had been of Transfersers. This made me think that Prof was onto something, and that this was another general rule that governed all Transfersers:

Death Trigger Rule: A Transfersion effect happens at some point after a Transferser's death, unhindered by the Transferser's weakness.

The obvious example of this aside from Steelheart is Megan. Her power of Possibility Transfersion pulls the possibility of a living Megan every time she dies, in accordance to the Death Trigger Rule.

"Death Trigger" might remind you of Deathpoint, who was a Transferser who could turn people's flesh into ashes. When Deathpoint died, he didn't turn to ash, so that ironically looks like a violation of the Death Trigger Rule at first glance. But remember that Deathpoint had a second ability, the one that he was about to use on Steelheart before Blain Charleston shot him. Perhaps this second ability is the one that manifested when he died. I'm speculating that this ability's attribute is death itself (instead of ash, as in his first ability); think Avada Kedavra from the Harry Potter series. I'm not sure if such a power could have killed Steelheart, but it would mean that Deathpoint's corpse was lethal to touch. Good thing his corpse was Transfersed into harmless steel moments later.

How about Gifters? Well, fortunately we've already seen a Gifter die (well, "close enough"). Calamity is the ultimate Gifter, the one who Gifted all of the Epics on David's core possibility. Soon after our heroes returned from defeating Calamity, they learned that Mizzy has become an Epic. How interesting! But I don't think it's likely that Calamity chose to Gift someone just as he was facing opponents (I mean, priorities...). I think Mizzy became an Epic after Calamity was defeated, that Calamity's Gifting power was Death Triggered.

And since the Death Trigger effect is immune to the Epic Downfall (since the Epic already...fell), it must also be immune to Downfall Avoidance. This means that anyone Gifted by Calamity's Death Trigger would not have felt the darkness, and would not have experienced the Rending. This is consistent with the ending scene. When Knighthawk informed Megan about Mizzy turning Epic, there was never any indication that Mizzy went on a homicidal rampage, something that Knighthawk wouldn't have forgotten to mention. They didn't seem worried at all about the news. It stands to reason that Mizzy fully owned her powers the moment they were Gifted to her.

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Edit: Removed weak speculation about Prof and motivators. Reworded some things for clarity.

Edited March 9, 2016 by skaa

[EvilNuff]

I love the thought that went into this post and I appreciate you sharing with us.  However:

 

 

 

One might prefer to believe that this quirk has no implication beyond Steelheart. If that's what you think, that's perfectly okay, but you might want to stop reading this post. Anyway, I theorize that this insulation effect applies to other Transfersion-type powers, and is therefore a general rule for Transfersion:

 

I do think that it is a very large stretch to assume that the quirk of Steelheart's metal insulation extends to all transfersion type abilities so the rest of the theories here just read as not something I agree with.

[skaa]

I love the thought that went into this post and I appreciate you sharing with us.

Thanks!

 

However:

 

 

I do think that it is a very large stretch to assume that the quirk of Steelheart's metal insulation extends to all transfersion type abilities so the rest of the theories here just read as not something I agree with.

I'm fine with that. I just like theories that are both simple and could explain multiple mysteries, and as you can see by my examples above the Likeness Limit is one such theory. It could still be wrong, of course, and I would welcome any counter-examples.

[Edgedancer]

Okay, let's look at this step by step.

First putting Gifters into the same transferance category as Steelheart's powers seem flawed. The most obvious difference being that said transformation was permanent, while Gifting is about as temporal as it can be. The Epic can dismiss it at any moment, the power runs out after being used enough and there's even a range limit to it.

Similairly with Megan, given that she seems to mostly create overlays between realities and then pull things from them, so she isn't so much changing things as shifting them around.

 

Likeness Limit Rule: Ignoring the initial stretch of the theory for a moment. I'm pretty sure that Megan actually finds her powers easier to work with similair dimensions. That's why when she was extremly tired in the attack on Knighthawk she ended up pulling the collapsed rubble just into the positions it would actually fall into just shortly after.

Another note, given that you off-handly include Loophole into the category but her powers only turn objects into the same objects of another size the onject doesn't change and two sizes aren't all that different in nature, so how does that fit into your rule?

 

Downfall Avoidance Rule:... I honestly have no idea where you're going with this.

 

Death Trigger Rule: Problem, presumably the only way to kill Megan permanently is burning her alive, aka using her weakness.

[EvilNuff]

...I just like theories that are both simple and could explain multiple mysteries, and as you can see by my examples above the Likeness Limit is one such theory. It could still be wrong, of course, and I would welcome any counter-examples.

 

Absolutely, and I have enjoyed reading your theories in this forum.

 

...

Death Trigger Rule: Problem, presumably the only way to kill Megan permanently is burning her alive, aka using her weakness.

 

As I recall after Megan burned herself intentionally at the big fight at the tower, Prof's goons are about to shoot her and David and David mentions something to the effect of, with her power temporarily negated if she died it would be for good.  So burning her alive is one way but negating her powers and killing her conventionally would be another.

[skaa]

@Edgedancer: Thanks for the excellent critique! *upvotes*

First putting Gifters into the same transferance category as Steelheart's powers seem flawed. The most obvious difference being that said transformation was permanent, while Gifting is about as temporal as it can be. The Epic can dismiss it at any moment, the power runs out after being used enough and there's even a range limit to it.

Similairly with Megan, given that she seems to mostly create overlays between realities and then pull things from them, so she isn't so much changing things as shifting them around.

(Side note: The reason why I keep using the word "transfersion" instead of "transference" or "transformation" is because "transfersion" is the term used in the books. I think that Brandon chose this very rare spelling for a reason, that it can't possibly be only meant to refer to "turning stuff into steel". But perhaps my definition for it isn't the best. Maybe I'll come up with a better definition for it later, or maybe you guys can help me out.)

Anyway, the definition of transfersion that I gave above doesn't say anything about permanence, so it doesn't really matter if some forms of transfersion are permanent and some aren't. If I may use an imperfect Cosmere analogy, there are many ways of Investing objects, some permanent and some aren't, but no matter which kind of Investiture you use, Investiture is still Investiture, and certain general rules (like the one that says it is harder to Invest something the more Invested it already is) still apply.

You mentioned that Megan switches reality with another reality or overlays a reality onto another, and you're correct, but it is interesting because those could be what all transfersion powers do. What I mean is that weak transfersion powers (like non-Calamity Gifting) may simply be overlaying an impermanent, ephemeral possibility over the target, whereas a stronger form of transfersion (like Steelheart's Steel Transfersion or Calamity's Gifting) takes things much further and actually switches the target with another core possibility. I've actually thought about this while writing the OP, but I feared it makes Megan a bit too special.

I'll think about it.

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Likeness Limit Rule: Ignoring the initial stretch of the theory for a moment. I'm pretty sure that Megan actually finds her powers easier to work with similair dimensions. That's why when she was extremly tired in the attack on Knighthawk she ended up pulling the collapsed rubble just into the positions it would actually fall into just shortly after.

I think there's an equivocation problem here. But first, let me rephrase the point I was trying to make about how the Likeness Limit Rule applies to Megan: Metal is to Steelheart as core possibility is to Megan. It is harder for Steelheart to turn metallic objects and it is harder for Megan to affect core possibilities. Non-metal is to Steelheart as as ephemeral possibility is to Megan. These are easier for them to affect.

So, the first problem in your argument is that you failed to distinguish between the two categories of possibilities that Megan can access.

Now, why did Megan say that she finds it easier to pull possibilities "similar" to her current reality? Let me put a couple of quotes. First:

“With my powers,” she said, a hundred different versions of her face passing in a few moments, “I can reach into, and touch, other realities.”

“Other realities?”

“I once read a book,” Megan continued, her flickering features and clothing finally returning to her normal self, wet jacket and all, “that claimed there were infinite worlds, infinite possibilities. That every decision made by any person in this world created a new reality.”

This implies that Megan can navigate a sort of "possibility space", where possibilities exist as endlessly diverging branches. Now for the second quote:

“I was thinking, your illusions pull from alternate realities, right? And the closer the reality is to ours, the easier it is to pull?“

Let's go back to Steelheart for a little bit. Tell me, is every non-metallic non-living object equally easy for Steelheart to Transferse? The answer is no, because distance (among other things) makes a difference. It will take Steelheart a bit longer to affect an object a kilometer away than an object in his hand. This is different from the insulation effect that David described, a separate scenario altogether.

The same goes with Megan. It is easy in general for Megan to use ephemeral possibilities (these are her "non-metals"), but even then, if an ephemeral possibility's point of divergence from Megan's core possibility is a very long time ago (and is thus farther away in "possibility space"), then it will take her some time to reach it. If the point of divergence is near, then she'll reach it faster.

But even if an ephemeral possibility is of a similar location in "possibility space", an ephemeral possibility is NOT a similar kind of thing as a core possibility. The difference between core and ephemeral possibilities are a difference in kind, not just a difference in location... just like the difference between metal and non-metal.

That's the second problem with your argument. The Likeness Limit Rule applies to a similarity in kind, whereas you are referring to a similarity in location.

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Another note, given that you off-handly include Loophole into the category but her powers only turn objects into the same objects of another size the onject doesn't change and two sizes aren't all that different in nature, so how does that fit into your rule?

This has the same flaw as your argument that Gifters can't be Transfersers because what they do isn't permanent. What part of my definition of the word disqualifies size as a transfersion attribute?

But I will admit that there is no textual evidence showing what Loophole's Likeness Limit could be. Perhaps there is a certain minimum size change that she can make. Say, if the limit is 6.28 centimeters, then she can't easily make a change less than 6.28 centimeters from the original (so she can make someone 3 meters taller, but not 3 centimeters taller, 2 meters shorter, but not 2 millimeters shorter). Again, I have no evidence for that (and I have no idea what the exact value of the limit is, except it's less that "a few inches" according to her fight scene with David). I'm just describing one possibility.

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Downfall Avoidance Rule:... I honestly have no idea where you're going with this.

It was just about how a transfersion power is somehow imbued with an anti-weakness intent. David can't use the tensor power properly when he felt like a failure, because the feeling of failure is Prof's weakness. David regrew after sneezing because sneezing was Loophole's weakness. Epics found it harder to be good when using their powers because humans being good was Calamity's weakness. I'm aware that Calamity's transfersion power seems to have a much more proactive Downfall Avoidance than Prof's or Loophole's, but the important thing is that all these transfersion powers react to weakness.

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Death Trigger Rule: Problem, presumably the only way to kill Megan permanently is burning her alive, aka using her weakness.

Actually, there are countless ways to kill Megan. It's just that most of those ways won't kill her permanently. Again, look at my definition of the rule. There is no mention of permanence there. Also, even if someone manages to permanently prevent Megan from returning at full strength (and remember, the burning alive thing is still speculation on their part), the Death Trigger effect could simply pull the next nearest thing from an alternate reality. Perhaps Firefight will suddenly find himself pulled into David's core possibility the morning after Megan dies permanently. Or better yet, the power could pull a version of Megan who isn't an Epic.

Edited February 28, 2016 by skaa

[Charlie.x.3000]

Well, Prof mentions that his powers are so strong that if he gifts at full power, the person gets corrupted by the darkness. Which is contrary to what you said. I'm pretty sure this is in Steelheart. Also, Confluence talks about dogs not negating the powers he gifts out, even before he overcame his weakness.

[skaa]

Well, Prof mentions that his powers are so strong that if he gifts at full power, the person gets corrupted by the darkness. Which is contrary to what you said. I'm pretty sure this is in Steelheart.

May I ask which statement of mine was contradicted by that? As a matter of fact, I believe it supports my Downfall Avoidance Rule. Even though Prof was the current "owner" of his powers, Calamity (the one who Gifted the powers to him) still had a stake in those powers, and so it is reasonable that the powers still recognized Calamity to an extent even when Prof Gifts them.

(Update: I moved my thoughts on power ownership to a separate thread.)

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Also, Confluence talks about dogs not negating the powers he gifts out, even before he overcame his weakness.

I think you're misremembering. Here's what he said:

"Tell me," Edmund said. "Why is it that, if dogs are my weakness, devices with power cells charged by my abilities don't fail when they're around dogs?"

David then teaches him about the Large Dispersal Rule, which I already talked about in the OP.

Remember that Conflux's device-charging ability is not the same as his Gifting ability. The first is the power to charge electrical devices, the second is the power to let other people charge electrical devices. It is the Gifting power that is affected by the Downfall Avoidance Rule, not the charging power.

This means that when you're fighting a Gifted Enforcement officer and you bring out a dog to face him, his mechanized suit won't immediately run out of power, but he won't be able to recharge it if it was already low on power. (Conflux's power cells run for a long time, so that's still a stupid plan to use against an Enforcement officer, but you get the idea.)

Edited March 9, 2016 by skaa

[Charlie.x.3000]

Conflux's powers definitely increase the ability for a battery to store electricity. So dogs did not cause a removal of that power. Directly contradicting the point you make of presence of dogs not affecting the powers

[skaa]

Conflux's powers definitely increase the ability for a battery to store electricity. So dogs did not cause a removal of that power. Directly contradicting the point you make of presence of dogs not affecting the powers

I already said in my last reply that the battery charging ability isn't affected by the Downfall Avoidance Rule, that Conflux's Gifting to other people is the thing that is affected by that rule. I will admit, however, that I didn't have that distinction in the original definition of the rule.

I will revise the OP to reflect that distinction. Thanks for the input.

Update: Done.

Edited March 9, 2016 by skaa