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Messages - socom-delta

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: When does Alloy of Law get released?
« on: January 28, 2011, 06:42:04 PM »
October/November is big book release time for some reason. I don't know the numbers behind that.

Christmas/Holiday shopping season, sir. That's the reason. You release it in October/November, take a few weeks to ship, give yourself some leeway to print & shop more books in case demand outpaces supply.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: 15/16th Metal mystery (SPOILERS AHEAD)
« on: January 28, 2011, 04:24:46 PM »
yeah you're right about the chemical compound/alloy distinction. my mistake :o

I was under the impression from the annotations and ars arcanum that it didn't really matter what the metal was that ways used in Hemalurgy.  I'm not saying it didn't have an affect, just that Hemalurgy is extremely complicated and placement was more important than the particular type of metal used for the spike.

There's a chapter heading in the book, which compares Hemalurgy to Allomancy & Feruchemy, that makes mention (from Sazed's POV?) of the need to know where to place the spikes. This would probably be why Inquisitors always get spikes through their eye sockets (although this looks pretty imposing, too), but also why Zane and Pendrod were given spikes through the heart.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: 15/16th Metal mystery (SPOILERS AHEAD)
« on: January 28, 2011, 06:48:35 AM »
Thanks. I fixed the image links.

Sorry for the megapost. Was originally in another thread, as several different posts that I combined into one. But no, they're still chemical compounds. A compound is simply some combination of 2 or more elements.

Thanks for the insight on the iron/steel eyespikes. Do you know of any other confirmed spike locations?

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Brandon Sanderson / 15/16th Metal mystery (SPOILERS AHEAD)
« on: January 28, 2011, 02:41:06 AM »
As was suggested to me, I created a new thread on this subject (the old thread I reference is located here: http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=5690.15)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Perhaps we're looking at this problem the wrong way.

We're talking about metals, things that have existed in OUR world, things our scientific community understands in great detail.

Things we ALREADY have great knowledge bases about, like the Periodic Table of the Elements.

Instead of looking solely toward the book, we should look toward modern Chemistry.

The Ars Arcanum - and the description of the usage of each metal in the books - holds clues about them.


For Example:

When exposed the same type of radiation (burning metals?), different chemical elements/compounds will give off energy of differing intensities (allomantic powers?) and at different frequencies (allomantic pulsings?), producing visible light of different colors. If the metals do give off metal in pulses, then it's possible that the flow of power seems constant because the pulses themselves are of sufficient strength as to lapse so marginally that the lapse is hardly felt. (see: reference image below)

Perhaps it's worth going back through the books to find the description of the pulsing of each metal, and then compare this with the properties of their real-life constituents?

Does Brandon have a secret love of chemistry that he's chosen to share with us? :=)



~~~~~~~~~~~~



That is an example of a sine wave, used to measure the frequencies of different types of sound and light.

If you're measuring energy that's given off in pulses, as sound and light theoretically are, then what's to assume you can't measure allomantic powers the same way (especially if those pulses are produced by a reaction with well-known and publicized metals)?

-edit-

Sorry. I didn't realize this thread was already quite old, but I couldn't pass it up. It reminded me of one of those brain teaser puzzles I read as a kid.

Bear in mind I don't have the correct percentages of each of the metals handy, so at this moment it's not possible for me to do a detailed analysis of each of the allomantic metals.

HOWEVER... several things immediately stuck out to me as I read this book. And some of the pushing metals are actually composed of the pulling metals

The PULLING metals are chemical elements; the PUSHING metals are chemical compounds; that is, the PUSHING metals are actually more than one element.

Iron - used in pulling metals toward you (or you to them, if they weigh more than you)
Steel - used in steelpushing (coinshot). Steel is typically comprised of part iron, and part of several other elements or chemical compounds:

Quote from: wikipedia
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten.[1] Carbon and other elements act as a hardening agent, preventing dislocations in the iron atom crystal lattice from sliding past one another. Varying the amount of alloying elements and the form of their presence in the steel (solute elements, precipitated phase) controls qualities such as the hardness, ductility, and tensile strength of the resulting steel. Steel with increased carbon content can be made harder and stronger than iron, but such steel is also less ductile than iron.

Tin - Used to enhance the five senses (although taste was never explored in the book iirc)
Pewter - Used to enhance strength, although using pewter can also dull the senses (this is why pain is dulled when burning pewter)

Quote from: wikipedia
Pewter is a malleable metal alloy, traditionally 85-99% tin, with the remainder consisting of copper, antimony, bismuth and lead. Copper and antimony act as hardeners while lead is common in the lower grades of pewter, which have a bluish tint. It has a low melting point, around 170–230 °C, depending on the exact mixture of metals.[1] The word pewter is probably a variation of the word spelter, a colloquial name for zinc.

And look at that. Pewter is composed not only of tin, but also of copper! Another connection? Perhaps. But it's comprised partly of tin.

Zinc - riots emotions
Brass - soothes emotions. I think Brass is the pushing metal here because Vin described soothing someone's emotions completely as leaving them devoid of emotion, as though it simply left them.

Quote from: wikipedia
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.

Interesting. Brass is comprised of copper and zinc.

Copper - hides allomantic pulses
Bronze - allows detection of allomantic pulses

Quote from: Wikipedia
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive, but sometimes with other elements such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminum, or silicon.

Fascinating! Starting to see the pattern? The next metal in the ars arcanum is aluminum; the previous one was copper. Bronze is a combination of copper and often tin, but sometimes aluminum. Brass was a combination of copper and zinc (zinc before it, copper after it on the ars arcanum). So there's a deliberate pattern here. It ties into the way the metals are listed. Bear in mind I had to switch some metals to make my list fit, so it's possible I could be wrong. However, if you look at the next metal pair, then you'll see that they don't quite fit.

Aluminum - destroys allomantic reserve
Duralumin - enhances the next metal burned

This pairing doesn't make sense at first glance. Aluminum destroys an allomantic reserve; shouldn't duralumin, by being an opposite, grant a reserve? Let's put this another way.... since immediately renders the use of a metal reserve at 0% of its potential, then duralumin immediately renders the use of a metal reserve at 100% of its potential. That's why it burns out all currently-burning metals instantly but why aluminum depletes a reserve immediately.

Atium - See into other people's futures
Malatium - See into other people's pasts

Gold - See into your own past
Electrum - See into your own future

Kelsier was right to say that Gold was oddly paired with atium because they didn't appear to be complementary... because they weren't! Look at how straightforwardly opposite atium/malatium and gold/electrum are!

The thing that stumps me about the elements is that atium didn't exist until the Lord Ruler came into play, and I'm pretty sure Atium wasn't a component in Duralumin.

But what if Atium was actually another element undiscovered on this world? We know it came from underground, in geodes (crystals) - instead of ore rocks - so it's unusual that it would display the property of a mineral rather than a metal. Perhaps the crystals merely LOOKED like crystals, but were something else? Maybe atium is something super rare, like:

PLATINUM
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Platinum_crystals.jpg

or

IRIDIUM
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Iridium2.jpg

So I need some more information, if someone can help me look. I need the chemical compositions of malatium and electrum, and the precise compositions of the other allomancer's metals.

It may not be as complicated as having to look up the properties of each of the elements listed and see how they react with their pairs but it would be handy to have the percentages right.

~~~~

ugh... nevermind. Man I feel dumb. I see there's already a poster released that spoils the last two metals.

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/graphics/mb_table_v13.jpg

Ironically, the post author references my birthday in that post....

Well, I suppose that leaves some remaining mysteries, then. What Hemalurgic and Feruchemical powers do the remaining metals offer, and where do you put the spikes to grant Hemalurgic power? We know putting a spike into the ear lobe grants the ability to pierce copperclouds, spikes in the eyes grant super tineye vision, an iron spike in the left shoulder gives pewter-like strength. What about the spike that pierces the heart? Zane had one through his chest; so did Penrod.

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Cool addition but the thread was 3 years old. Would have better luck starting a new thread probably.

I wouldn't mind doing that. I thought it best to look for an existing thread and use that, rather than create a new one. But, I'll take your suggestion.

-edit, for the confused:

I removed two posts I made in this thread, and started a new thread.

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Vin makes a description of the mist near the end of the Hero of Ages that sounds an awful lot like Stormlight, how the Mist appeared to leak out of her (moreso when she breathed), but then went around in a stream and went right back into her. It reminded me quite a bit like Stormlight.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Backup plan (Mistborn spoilers)
« on: January 28, 2011, 01:11:10 AM »
At the very end of  the first book, the Inquisitors got the control they wanted. The Lord Ruler gave them ultimate control over the Steel Ministry.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: [WIP] The Cosmere
« on: January 27, 2011, 03:34:35 AM »
So you want the reader to be able to comprehend what the Cosmere is and how it works?

The best way to understand something so immense is to break it down into constituent parts. As it would happen, Brandon has already done that for us (the Shards) so it might be prudent to explain how each of the Shards works and how they all contribute the same thing(s) to the Cosmere. I attempted to touch on that theme a bit in my last post.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Mistborn: Zane and 'God' (Here be spoilers!)
« on: January 26, 2011, 05:43:17 AM »
LOL!!!!

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oh. I forgot that he kidnapped people, too.

Does that put him in the 'insane' category, then? What if he's just so hung up on his own self preservation he doesn't care who he hurts? That would go along with the assertion that he's a villain, and why he's sewn chaos by killing so many foreign leaders (through Szeth), and also his MO for kidnapping those foreigners & prostitutes.

"Sick people, whores, foreign aliens... nobody will miss them. Let's see what they can tell us in death..."

Yeah. Yeah that sounds about right. He's not nearly as powerless as Jasnah made him out to be, either. Hell, maybe the thugs in that one alley near that theater were actually EMPLOYED by Taravangian.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: WoK: Making Wishes Out West (*Spoilers*)
« on: January 24, 2011, 04:57:04 AM »
What if you wished to not be cursed?

You don't start our cursed, so that wouldn't work. Nice try :)

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sacrificing a few to save many? and the 'few' are mostly people who are dying or terminally ill or so ill they wouldn't survive on their own. pretty messed up, but what he's doing could end up saving the world.

Considering that, I see him like Szeth: good at heart but sorely misguided. Used.

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Mistborn: Zane and 'God' (Here be spoilers!)
« on: January 24, 2011, 04:25:07 AM »
Heh.  The explanation behind that is an interesting revelation when you get to it.

You know, as screwed up as it would be, you could make a few funny short stories out of Zane's mania.

maybe Zane would make a good Koloss warrior:

Zane walked through the camp and noticed a Koloss warrior stopping to strap his sword to his back.

"Kill him!", God screamed.

Why? What did he ever do to me?

"He's Koloss. Do you need a reason?"

Well, I suppose...

Zane Steelpushed a coin toward the base of the beast's skull, severing its spine. It collapsed to the ground and sputtered blood, quivering in the throes of death.

The other Koloss watched as Zane picked up the dead beast's sword and coin pouch.

Following the usual ritual, Zane offered explanation:

"The voice in my head told me to kill him."

That bit reminds me of the phrase, "I know I'm sane, because the voices in my head tell me so."

So sad that it turned out to be true though. LOL

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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Parshendi (WoK spoilers)
« on: January 23, 2011, 11:02:35 PM »
I should think it's just the Chasmfiends themselves. The descriptions fit: dozens of feet tall, triangular heads, etc.

What better foe than one that has a massive gem infused with stormlight inside of it?

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Brandon Sanderson / Mistborn: Zane and 'God' (Here be spoilers!)
« on: January 23, 2011, 09:51:37 PM »
Never a more creepy passage have I read in a book:

"You know what's really funny about all of this?", God said. "You were never insane."

This, coming from the evil voice in the young kid's head who told him to kill EVERYBODY. Everyone except Vin.

"Well of course I didn't tell you to kill her."

I'm left scratching my head like O_o and anxiously continuing 'The Well of Ascension'.

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