Timewaster's Guide Archive

So you think that hemalurgy is just some sort of process that allows people to access abilities that are stored in their blood? That's an interesting idea.

Not neccesarily an ability to directly use abilities in one's blood, just that coincidentally that's where the power is stored. Like if an Allomancer tries to burn a feruchemical storage that they made. They're burning the metal to preform an Allomantic act, and there just happens to be an added source of power in this metal that they can use. So a Hemalurgist would be using their blood to preform an act of Hemalurgy, and they are able to tap into the other latent abilities of the blood they're using.

The idea I've been playing with is maybe using Feruchemists and Allomancers to make Inquisitors is just a big plus for them. Like maybe Inquisitors gain powers based upon the metals/other substances within their blood, and by using a misting, Mistborn, or Feruchemist sacrifice (thus infusing the Hemalurgist's blood with the blood of the sacrifice,) they would gain the abilities of that sacrifice.

Some of the reasoning behind this is that we're pretty sure both Allomancy and Feruchemy can be transferred genetically, (Allomancy being directly stated and Feruchemy can be inferred by the Lord Ruler's attempt to cull it out of Terris people.) so there would be changes to the bodies of those who burned it, and probably changes to the blood of those individuals as well. Then, when that blood is infused into a Hemalurgist, they can use Hemalurgy to tap into the power stored within their blood, (usually metals, I would assume?) including the genetic abilities of the sacrifice.

This would explain a lot of things; why mistings (And possibly Mistborn) are often chosen to become Steel Inquisitors, as it would just be less Allomantic power they would have to worry about; why Inquisitors who used to be mistings can use every Allomantic power (it was bequeathed them via sacrifice); and why the Inquisitors would be using the Terris Keepers as sacrifices. (Inquisitors with Feruchemy. . . Ouch.)

So, after reading the prologue, I decided to make a list of all the facts I could squeeze out of it.

1. Ruin has control over an Inquisitor's body and almost-total control over their mind, when it is possessing them.
2. It is possible for a Steel Inquisitor to resist Ruin's control over their mind for brief periods of time.
3. There is probably no way to stop Ruin's ability to control an Inquisitor other than death.
4. The wounds caused by an Inquisitor's spikes do not bleed.
5. The spikes give an Inquisitor power.
6. Inquisitors have access to Allomantic abilities. ("Everything was outlined in fine blue Allomantic lines . . . ")
7. Ruin likes to hear his prisoner's scream and enjoys causing pain.
8. Inquisitors have steel spikes through their eyes, and at least one brass spike in their chest.
9. Making (Or possibly just enhancing) an Inquisitor requires killing a sacrifice.
10. Ruin is free, but cannot directly affect the world too much while the other entity (Preservation) is free.
11. Vin freed Ruin, who is now looking for something to increase his power. (Something to seal away Preservation?)
12. The spike used in this ceremony must be driven point-first through the Keeper's heart into the Inquisitor.
13. The Keepers are being interrogated about the Synod, then used as sacrifices.

Well, Kell said in book one when they were talking about pewter dragging something to the effect of "burning metals too long causes parts of your body to bend, and bend them too much and things start to break."

I think this is just evidence of the bending he was talking about, where Spook's senses are getting pulled beyond normal human capacity, and I expect Spook will at least start breaking in book three. (I wouldn't be surprised if he was blind, deaf, and numb by the end of the book.)

Though now my mind starts to wonder what would happen if someone kept atium flared for a year . . . Perpetual future vision?

So it appears that the lands surrounding this patch of life at the poles are very hot most if not all the year round. When Sazed returns to Luthadel in Well of Ascension and talks with Tindwyl about his duty, she calls them the burnlands.

". . . You are supposed to be in the Eastern Dominance, teaching the people on the borders of the burnlands.

So basically we have life at the poles of this planet surrounded by vast burning deserts. (I think Vin mentions the deserts when in the Well as well.) The ashmounts almost for sure have something to do with this, as they generate a layer of ash around the planet so thick the sun is the only thing that seeps through. Stars can be seen with Allomancy, but only on very clear nights.

I also like the idea of the deepness being repelled by the strong magnetic forces of the planet's poles. After all, when the mist killings happen, they happen from the fringes of the empire towards the center, lending credence to that theory. Not so sure about Preservation making Allomancy though. I'm guessing just when the Lord Ruler got the power at the Well, he knew that the poles were safer from the deepness and remade the world to make those areas livable. (By creating the ashmounts in a roughly circular pattern to keep the area as clear as possible.)

I'm pretty sure they mention rain somewhere, but also that precipitation of any kind is rare.

Hum. Here's something I noticed on my most recent read through. When Vin is in the Well of Ascension, her earring starts causing pain.

Page 570, Well of Ascension

With a sudden flare, her earlobe began to hurt. She cried out, pulling her earring free, dropping it into the depths. She pulled off her sash, letting it--and her Allomantic vials--go as well, removing the only metals on her person.

Note that she does still hear the voice of Ruin without her earring, though that could be because of the circumstances. However, I find it very odd that the Well of Ascension reacted so strongly to Hemalurgy.  Any thoughts?

Weaves that ward of dreams and theoretically compulsion only prevent the One Power from affecting your emotions, not something like a persuasive car salesman or the like. I doubt if the One Power could prevent emotional Allomancy without a weave that completely sealed off your brain to outside input.

As for Saidin/Saidar, a Mistborn would just have to to Soothe male channelers and Riot female ones. Make the men more likely to give up for a second, and the women more likely to try controlling.