Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: Valkynphyre on June 28, 2010, 09:05:46 PM
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How could they possibly be detected? You couldn't burn bronze to see if they were burning metals. They wouldn't even know they were using copper, so how could you possibly find out if you are a coppercloud?
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My guess would be that they have someone burning a metal next to them when they are tested. If the person's metal vibrations vanish, then you'd know.
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guess that would be the ONLY way.
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Someone who could pierce copperclouds could do it, I'd assume.
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theirs really 3 ways to "Detect" a Smoker
1: a person eats a litte bit of pure "Allomantic" Copper, and trys to sense if they have a "Heat Source" in their Belly
2: you feed a person copper in the presance of two Seekers. if neither Seeker can Sense the Other, the Third person must Logicly be a Smoker, or Mistborn. give them a Second Metal to see.
3: not publicly known, but Inquestitors with Seeker, or Mistborn basis will be able to Pierce Copperclouds, and be able to hunt Smokers. this is also an Added Reason why Marsh was so quickly "Recruited" into their Ranks.
oh, and befor i forget, hiya! long time bradon fan, first time poster. :D
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Excellent first post I must say. You sir have lurked with the best of us! Welcome out of your lurker hole, it's an honor.
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There is one other way to determine if someone is burning Copper. Emotional Allomancy. Burning Copper protects the burner from all but the strongest of emotional Allomancy (ie. TLR). Therefor, if you were to say flare Zinc and riot fear the sudden shock would stun anybody else in the area not burning Copper. All you'd have to do then is look for the people without shocked expressions and you've found your Smokers(s) and/or Mistborn(s) currently burning Copper, which, if you'll recall, burns away very slowly and so most Allomancers capable of burning it just leave on all the time.
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There is one other way to determine if someone is burning bronze. Emotional Allomancy. Burning bronze protects the burner from all but the strongest of emotional Allomancy (ie. TLR). Therefor, if you were to say flare Zinc and riot fear the sudden shock would stun anybody else in the area not burning bronze. All you'd have to do then is look for the people without shocked expressions and you've found your Smokers(s) and/or Mistborn(s) currently burning Bronze, which, if you'll recall, burns away very slowly and so most Allomancers capable of burning it just leave on all the time.
I completely agree, except you mean copper. Bronze is for seeking.
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There is one other way to determine if someone is burning bronze. Emotional Allomancy. Burning bronze protects the burner from all but the strongest of emotional Allomancy (ie. TLR). Therefor, if you were to say flare Zinc and riot fear the sudden shock would stun anybody else in the area not burning bronze. All you'd have to do then is look for the people without shocked expressions and you've found your Smokers(s) and/or Mistborn(s) currently burning Bronze, which, if you'll recall, burns away very slowly and so most Allomancers capable of burning it just leave on all the time.
I completely agree, except you mean copper. Bronze is for seeking.
Yes, yes I do. Fixed my brain fart.
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I suppose that the real question is in what context these smokers are being sought. If its the ministry trying to find them, then I'm sure they have methods of testing for copper burners (for which some very clever tricks have been proposed).
Consider, though, that you're a skaa smoker, like Clubs. Immediately you'd know something was up (call it "Luck", call it that tingly feeling I get when we use the nice, copper tankards) and would probably burn copper without knowing it, much like Vin did. Also much like Vin, you'd probably have to tell the right people about that feeling, who might direct you towards someone knowledgable (a Kelsier, if you will) to test you for various metals.
Another thing to consider though is people like Duralumin and Aluminum gnats who can only burn enhancement metals. they never get found out because there's nothing they can really do with their abilities. It may well be that there are a lot of smokers who just don't get discovered, along with all the other Mistings with metals that just don't stand alone.
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I imagine for nobles they'd do something similar to what they do with Atium- that is, put copper in some sort of food or drink and attempt to soothe or riot everyone, hoping that the smokers would end up burning the copper.
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I imagine for nobles they'd do something similar to what they do with Atium- that is, put copper in some sort of food or drink and attempt to soothe or riot everyone, hoping that the smokers would end up burning the copper.
Is that what they do with Atium? I'd imagine its so rare/valuable that they'd only really give it to Mistborn. I imagine that finding a "Seer" would be a rare find, since testing someone for Mistborn...ness is cheaper with two simpler metals than even a single bead of Atium. The only Seer we meet in the books also happens to be an Obligator, which probably explains his ability to experiment with Atium and discover his own ability.
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Oh, I was misremembering. That's their general strategy for finding noble Mistings.
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Actually that is exactly what they do. The Ministry would spike the drinks at a ball with minute amounts of Atium and then scare the people present, usually by simply having an Inquisitor or two show up, causing them to instinctively burn their metals. The Inquisitor(s) would then burn Bronze and see who burned what metals.
Obligators, especially high-ranking ones, were also often specifically tested for the ability to burn Atium. Those who tested positive tended to rise through the ranks very quickly.
Also, Yomen isn't the only seer we meet, the others, Demoux and the Mistfallen, just don't know they're seers until the last few chapters of Mistborn 3.
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ah, that makes more sense. If they've got the resources, I'm sure they'd figure out a way to find them.
Thing is, I think we're neglecting the concept of snapping. Even for mistings, they've got to snap somewhow. houses like the House Venture would beat their children to make them snap, then test them with all sorts of metals. Allomancers were so valuable that they'd go to great lengths to find them.
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ah, that makes more sense. If they've got the resources, I'm sure they'd figure out a way to find them.
Thing is, I think we're neglecting the concept of snapping. Even for mistings, they've got to snap somewhow. houses like the House Venture would beat their children to make them snap, then test them with all sorts of metals. Allomancers were so valuable that they'd go to great lengths to find them.
Presumably, most of the Seers they found were Nobles. Because the nobility didn't *know* that Seers existed, they wouldn't test their kids for the skill---other metals were much cheaper. Thus the typical seer probably was found by (a) being beaten nearly to death as a kid, snapping, but not knowing it and (b) having the Inquisitors pull one of the raids described above, and instinctively burning Atium.
I would also note that TLR had access to as much Atium as he needed any time he felt he needed it. Its scarcity was somewhat artificial, for good reason. But for little things like finding Seers, I see no difficulty whatsoever in picking up a bit extra for the ministry.
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I just found this annotation for Hero of Ages, which answer the question of how Yomen found out he was a seer:
Yomen Is a Seer
That raises the question of how Yomen discovered that he was a Seer. He mentions that atium was too valuable to waste on testing for atium Mistings. That's true, but incomplete. The Lord Ruler did test his obligators for the power, particularly the high-ranking ones. Those he found were told of their power and used as an extra level of security. There weren't many, but there were some—and they tended to rise very quickly in the ranks (like Yomen) and be given important positions. Yomen's power with atium made him a valuable secret weapon, and when in a position of power, he could use his ability to quell rebels or perform feats of wonder to keep the people in line.[/quote
So...there's that...
Also, I realized I've been spelling his name Yeoman...which is actually the last name of the guy he was named after. My bad.
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How could they possibly be detected? You couldn't burn bronze to see if they were burning metals. They wouldn't even know they were using copper, so how could you possibly find out if you are a coppercloud?
Or they could always just apply for the ministry and tell them, if you're asking how smokers are detected to join the ministry. If you mean the smokers that join theiving crews, I assume they just know what they are by discovering the warm sensation in their stomach after consuming trace metals.