History Headscratchers / TheMistbornAdventures

New entries on the bottom.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Keeping away Ironeyes]]
* How exactly does one scare away [[GrimReaper Ironeyes]]?
** You can't, but you can sell a lot of broadsheets by claiming you have a way, and I don't think Scadrial had any truth-in-advertising laws at this point.
** As well, Marsh is not about to go harming innocents, so there's no harm in making such claims.
** An extremely strong magnet is how.
** That could possibly bring him closer...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Twinborn]]
* Small question about Twinborn. Compounding works by storing the Feruchemical attribute in a metal (effectively creating a new metal that has that attribute) and then burning that metal to gain more of that attribute than they started with, yes? So , is it therefore possible to work in reverse? For example, could a steel Compounder burn steel, then store that power in a metalmind to draw upon later, or burn for an increased output loop of power?
** WordOfGod has indicated that yes, there is a way to enhance your allomancy with Compounding (and that the Lord Ruler knew and made use of it). Nothing about the specifics of the process.
** Source?
** I read it on 17th Shard (Sanderson's official fansite). I cannot remember the specific interview which was being quoted, unfortunately. It may have been from Sanderson's Reddit account- he's answered a lot of questions there.
** Most likely this can be done by Nicrosil compounding -- Nicrosil feruchemy stores "Investiture," which is a term consistently used throughout the Cosmere to refer to power provided by the shards[[labelnote:*]] And the protagonist of the next trilogy is apparently going to be a Nicrosil Misting. Hmmm...[[/labelnote]]
** Investiture is just raw magical power, not what you can do with it. But if you knew what metal was appropriate for storage of a particular allomantic power, that would work. We know there's some overlap, allomantic tin increasing all senses and feruchemic tin letting you store particular senses. It's probably based on the metal's correspondences, which means it should just let you store in reverse.
** It's also very possible they just haven't discovered which metals would work for this. There are, after all, more than two dozen metals in existence. Things like rubidium, radium, and osmium likely haven't been discovered yet. It's even possible that it would only work with metals that don't exist on Scadrial...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nicrosil Feruchemy]]
* Nicrosil feruchemy lets you store investiture, and release it later. Does this do anything by itself, or do you need another Allomantic or Feruchemical ability to enhance? The reason I ask is that on other worlds holding investiture seems to have strong effects in and of itself. In {{Warbreaker}} holding biochroma causes some effects specific to the magic system (discernment of colors, instinctive awakening, enhancing color around you) but also causes increased mental and physical health to the eventual point of immortality. Similarly, in TheStormlightArchive anyone infused with Stormlight can power the abilities granted by their spren, but also get healing and physical enhancement. In fact, they are like the Returned from Warbreaker in that they heal back to their image of themselves (which is why Kalladin's brands stay when it can even heal missing arms back). Elantrians do more or less the same thing, once the transformation that lets them be flooded with investituture from [[AmplifierArtifact the city of Elantris]] is complete. There seems to be a pattern here.
** Normally allomancers, feruchemists, and hemalurgists don't really store investiture. They just sort of use it at arm's length. So maybe that's exactly what a nicrosil feruchemist can do. And once they meet other worlds they'll be able to use it to power other magic systems more, while when they're alone they'll just feel like it's a really expensive form of gold. Speaking of which, nicrosil is pretty expensive, so this isn't exactly going to be common.
** Not just gold, though, if this is what it does. You get physical enhancement like a weak version of pewter, and apparently mental health in addition to physical (since the Returned are apparently unable to go insane) which overlaps with other abilities. Since all living things have some innate investiture anyway, it seems the easiest way to read it would be an ability to store and then release [=LifeForce=]. Which, given how broad the effects seem to be (even if they're weaker than the pure metals), is actually pretty darn overpowered.
** Also, in interaction with other magic systems, at the very least a Radiant with this power would hold stormlight perfectly and in arbitrary quantities. [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower Which is a really scary thought.]]
** Well, it's repeatedly implied that a Radiant who has sworn all his Oaths ''can'' hold Stormlight perfectly, so that would just be a little bit of cheating the system. Remember, Surgebinding relies less on pure power as on skill, amount of Stormlight available, and the strength of the bond (which modulates efficiency, which brings us back to point number two). It's why the Heralds were so scarily powerful, despite (Stormlight spoilers) [[spoiler:Honorblades actually being less effective than Radiant bonds]].
** I suppose. But it still removes a few key limitations like the length of time you can be 'powered up', and lets you carry Stormlight around without glowing (which was a problem for Kaladin in the second book). So I suppose it's most dangerous in the hands of a radiant who is also a spy, because even if someone removes all spheres and searches them they can still be carrying as much power as they need. It might also [[spoiler: give some protection from having your stormlight drained]]. And then there's more speculative possibilities, like the fabrials you could make if the metal is infused with stormlight.
[[/folder]]

----

*** Well, it's repeatedly implied that a Radiant who has sworn all his Oaths ''can'' hold Stormlight perfectly, so that would just be a little bit of cheating the system. Remember, Surgebinding relies less on pure power as on skill, amount of Stormlight available, and the strength of the bond (which modulates efficiency, which brings us back to point number two). It's why the Heralds were so scarily powerful, despite (Stormlight spoilers) [[spoiler:Honorblades actually being less effective than Radiant bonds]].
**** I suppose. But it still removes a few key limitations like the length of time you can be 'powered up', and lets you carry Stormlight around without glowing (which was a problem for Kalladin in the second book). So I suppose it's most dangerous in the hands of a radiant who is also a spy, because even if someone removes all spheres and searches them they can still be carrying as much power as they need. It might also [[spoiler: give some protection from having your stormlight drained]]. And then there's more speculative possibilities, like the fabriels you could make if the metal is infused with stormlight.

** Well, it's repeatedly implied that a Radiant who has sworn all his Oaths ''can'' hold Stormlight perfectly, so that would just be a little bit of cheating the system. Remember, Surgebinding relies less on pure power as on skill, amount of Stormlight available, and the strength of the bond (which modulates efficiency, which brings us back to point number two). It's why the Heralds were so scarily powerful, despite (Stormlight spoilers) [[spoiler:Honorblades actually being less effective than Radiant bonds]].

*** Not just gold, though, if this is what it does. You get physical enhancement like a weak version of pewter, and apparently mental health in addition to physical (since the Returned are apparently unable to go insane) which overlaps with other abilities. Since all living things have some innate investiture anyway, it seems the easiest way to read it would be an ability to store and then release LifeForce. Which, given how broad the effects seem to be (even if they're weaker than the pure metals), is actually pretty darn overpowered.
*** Also, in interaction with other magic systems, at the very least a Radiant with this power would hold stormlight perfectly and in arbitrary quantities. [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower Which is a really scary thought.]]

*** Also, in interaction with other magic systems, at the very least a Radiant with this power would hold stormlight perfectly and in arbitrary quantities. [HeartIsAnAwesomePower Which is a really scary thought.]]

Nicrosil feruchemy lets you store investiture, and release it later. Does this do anything by itself, or do you need another Allomantic or Feruchemical ability to enhance? The reason I ask is that on other worlds holding investiture seems to have strong effects in and of itself. In {{Warbreaker}} holding biochroma causes some effects specific to the magic system (discernment of colors, instinctive awakening, enhancing color around you) but also causes increased mental and physical health to the eventual point of immortality. Similarly, in TheStormlightArchive anyone infused with Stormlight can power the abilities granted by their spren, but also get healing and physical enhancement. In fact, they are like the Returned from Warbreaker in that they heal back to their image of themselves (which is why Kalladin's brands stay when it can even heal missing arms back). Elantrians do more or less the same thing, once the transformation that lets them be flooded with investituture from [[AmplifierArtifact the city of Elantris]] is complete. There seems to be a pattern here.

Nicrosil feruchemy lets you store investiture, and release it later. Does this do anything by itself, or do you need another Allomantic or Feruchemical ability to enhance? The reason I ask is that on other worlds holding investiture seems to have strong effects in and of itself. In {{Warbreaker}} holding biochroma causes some effects specific to the magic system (discernment of colors, instinctive awakening, enhancing color around you) but also causes increased mental and physical health to the eventual point of immortality. Similarly, in TheStormlightArchive anyone infused with Stormlight can power the abilities granted by their spren, but also get healing and physical enhancement. In fact, they are like the Returned from Warbreaker in that they heal back to their image of themselves (which is why Kalladin's brands stay when it can even heal missing arms back). [[Literature/Elantris Elantrians]] do more or less the same thing, once the transformation that lets them be flooded with investituture from [[AmplifierArtifact the city of Elantris]] is complete. There seems to be a pattern here.

Nicrosil feruchemy lets you store investiture, and release it later. Does this do anything by itself, or do you need another Allomantic or Feruchemical ability to enhance? The reason I ask is that on other worlds holding investiture seems to have strong effects in and of itself. In {{Warbreaker}} holding biochroma causes some effects specific to the magic system (discernment of colors, instinctive awakening, enhancing color around you) but also causes increased mental and physical health to the eventual point of immortality. Similarly, in TheStormlightArchive anyone infused with Stormlight can power the abilities granted by their spren, but also get healing and physical enhancement. In fact, they are like the Returned from Warbreaker in that they heal back to their image of themselves (which is why Kalladin's brands stay when it can even heal missing arms back). [[Elantris Elantrians]] do more or less the same thing, once the transformation that lets them be flooded with investituture from [[AmplifierArtifact the city of Elantris]] is complete. There seems to be a pattern here.

*** That could possibly bring him closer...

*** Source?
*** I read it on 17th Shard (Sanderson's official fansite). I cannot remember the specific interview which was being quoted, unfortunately. It may have been from Sanderson's Reddit account- he's answered a lot of questions there.
*** Most likely this can be done by Nicrosil compounding -- Nicrosil feruchemy stores "Investiture," which is a term consistently used throughout the Cosmere to refer to power provided by the shards[[labelnote:*]] And the protagonist of the next trilogy is apparently going to be a Nicrosil Misting. Hmmm...[[/labelnote]]