Reen's obsidian

[Comatose]

That is hardly a logical explanation.  He's not five you know.   I'm also assuming there isn't a bunch of obsidian just lying around here.  Where did he get the first piece, and where would he get another one?  Probably not from the same place, seeing as how they moved around so much.  He might have gotten it from his mother or something, but I seriously doubt he just found a 'cooler,' piece of obsidian lying around.  Got anything better?

[Andrew the Great]

Frankly, we have no real reason to believe the obsidian has special properties. It could just be a 'good luck charm.' Since obsidian = volcanic glass, and ashmounts = active volcanoes, the assumption that there isn't much obsidian lying around is not necessarily a good one to make.

And do we actually know that Reen had anything else that he took with him? I don't recall. And even if he did, it's entirely possible that he was leaving in a rush (being chased by Inquisitors and all) and just grabbed for his possessions and missed the obsidian. I don't see any reason to believe it's significant.

Here are our options.

Insignificant obsidian - enough said.

Significant obsidian - What the heck does it do? Is it like a super duper Ruin-reducing device? Anti-inquisitor charm? All in all, it isn't necessary for the obsidian to be significant. If I am wrong, you can laugh at me and say I told you so. However, until then, this is my stance.   

Besides, Reen was 5 once. And if I have a pencil and I see a cooler pencil obviously lost and abandoned, what am I going to do? So, if Reen has cool piece of obsidian and sees a cooler one...

[Comatose]

But Reen was going from city to city, I doubt he'd just take a trip out to one of the Ashmounts in order to find some random piece of obsidian.  And when Vin is looking through her box she sees the obsidian and says it was the ONLY thing he didn't take with him when he left.  Reen needed to take everything with him, otherwise it wouldn't look like he abandoned Vin, and she might come looking for him and get caught by the inquisitors.  I don't think the obisidian is magical, I just think it's important.  Perhaps there IS a code in the irregualar pattern or maybe it's some sort of key.  Who knows.  I just think it's important.  I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, since I can't prove it's important, and you can't PROVE it isn't.

[Andrew the Great]

I think we shall have to agree to disagree as well. The only thing I'm still going to make a point on is that the ashmounts could likely quite easily have gotten obsidian out to some point nearer the cities. Even volcanoes that aren't very explosive can launch rock quite a ways, and there's ash falling almost constantly. For there to be that much ash, it follows that there would be a decent amount of obsidian around. Not necessarily common, true, but not necessarily scarce, either.

[Comatose]

I also agree we should agree to disagree (as I said before), but I also have one more thing to say (uh-oh, I see where this is going).  From my understanding, Obsidian is a sort of volcanic glass, and someone with more scientific knowledge can correct me here, but I don't think obsidian is included in the rock and things that are launched out of volcanoes.  And these volcanoes are a ways away from Luthadel.  You can only see one in the distance  I don't think theyare that common in cities.   But this is getting into a debat of the likelihood of finding obsidian in Luthadel, so I digress.
A quick question that occured to me though while typing.  Are there ashfalls in all parts of the empire?  Or just the central dominance.  IF so, how does the ash travel everywhere, when the ashmounts are all near the center.  The winds would carry it fairly far, but still.  Wouldn't the corners of the empire be relatively ash free?

[Andrew the Great]

That's a good question. (By the way, I agree to stop talking about the likelihood of finding obsidian if you will) You're right, it makes sense that there wouldn't be ashfalls elsewhere in the empire.

[Reaves]

Well a really big volcano can affect weather patterns across half the US for months, so i don't think its too hard to believe the ash gets spread everywhere.

[SarahG]

Yes, but the point is, the ash seems to be everywhere about evenly; it seems like it would at least be heavier some places than others.

[Reaves]

well we don't have a whole lot of places to choose from. Most of the story takes place in Luthadel. We do have the cave systems, the atium mine, and the little town where Elend saves the villlagers in MB3. Oh yeah and we have Sazed travelling around and thats about it.

[SarahG]

We also have the plantation where Kelsier kills Lord Tresting, and we know that there's lots of ash there, because not only is it falling from the sky, but that's the main work of the skaa, to push the ash away from the plants.  Tresting's manor is several days north of Luthadel.

[Reaves]

several days by canal, horse, carriage or foot?

[SarahG]

Doesn't say.  Here's the quote.

MB 1, p. 21

He was annoyed about something - something more than just Vin.  Perhaps he had heard about the skaa rebellion several days to the north.  One of the provincial lords, Themos Tresting, had apparently been murdered, his manor burned to the ground.  Such disturbances were bad for business; they made the aristocracy more alert, and less gullible. That, in turn, could cut seriously into Camon's profits.

[Comatose]

In the sample chapter in the back of MB1 (that's right, I was in mcnally's today), (POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE SAMPLE CHAPTER)  Spook is in Urteau, and I think the ash is the same there, although it's hard to tell because it's at night with the mist and such.

[Andrew the Great]

I was just noticing that this thread for a while goes like this:

Andrew
Coma
Andrew
Coma
Andrew
Coma
Andrew
Coma

Followed Shortly by

Reaves
Sarah
Reaves
Sarah
Reaves
Sarah

Just found that amusing.

And I think ashfalls are fairly heavy all over the empire, though we have mostly seen Luthadel. But that does raise the question of why. 

[Reaves]

lol well i just got back from vacation so im a twg spree