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Orem signing 2014 ()
#52 Copy

Questioner (paraphrased)

Could Shai Soul Forge herself into becoming an Elantrian?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

That would be really hard. First of all, she'd have to change where she's born, then Soul Forge the fact that she became an Elantrian. Even then, she'd probably look like an Elantrian, but not have any powers. There would probably need to be some kind of bridge, or she would need some kind of super push from AonDor to make it work.

Shadows of Self Lansing signing ()
#54 Copy

Questioner

I wanted to know if Forged metals had Allomantic properties.

Brandon Sanderson

If Forged metals had Allomantic properties. So what I’ve kind of been ruling on this is if you Forge a metal from one metal to another you can probably start burning it Allomantically but it--  Once you did it would disrupt the Spiritual nature of the metal and it would change back immediately.

Firefight Chicago signing ()
#55 Copy

Argent

Are there power modifiers for Soulstamps like there are for AonDor?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Argent

Yes... Does Shai know them-- Or any of them?

Brandon Sanderson

Um... Hehehehehe...

Argent

Not "has she used them", I'm not going to go there, but does she know any of them?

Brandon Sanderson

She knows more than she thinks she does.

Boskone 54 ()
#56 Copy

Questioner

So with Soulforging, are you able to Soulforge yourself so that you die?

Brandon Sanderson

Uh, can you Soulforge yourself to death? So, Soulforging that requires large state changes of Investiture and/or inputs of Investiture are very difficult. However, killing yourself is not that hard, but basically you could - so, Soulforging yourself so that you are already dead would a little bit harder, but Soulforging yourself would be, yeah.

Questioner

<background noise> and be able to check in the afterlife and then return--

Brandon Sanderson

No, because transfer of Investiture to and from the Beyond or even into the Cognitive Realm is going to require more investiture than a Forger pulls through, you can Forge yourself to death.

Questioner

So I can kill myself but I can’t come back.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. That would be one of those things where you kill yourself, your soul passes to the Beyond, your body when the Forgery is broken comes back, and just dead.

Firefight Phoenix signing ()
#58 Copy

the_archduke (paraphrased)

If the Lord Ruler captured Shai and gave her 100 days to craft a soulstamp that could turn an iron Hemalurgic spike into a steel Hemalurgic spike, could she do it?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, but she would need a boost of power to do it. Affecting an Invested object is hard.

the_archduke [Alternate wording from stormfather's report] (paraphrased)

Can Shai change Hemalurgic spikes?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, but it costs a lot of power and she wouldn't be able to do it alone.

/r/books AMA 2015 ()
#59 Copy

Faera

How far does a forger need to understand a particular skill in order to replicate that skill in their forgery? For example:

  • To forge a painting, it's implied that Shai had to learn painting skills from a master. But it's obviously unfeasible that she has to get as good as the master to forge from it.

  • To forge her 'warrior' personality, Shai had to go train with the actual warriors, at least for a while. But obviously she wouldn't need to get as good as when she's imprinting herself, otherwise she wouldn't even need that imprinting.

It's said that the effectiveness of forgery lies in the feasibility of changing its history. Does that mean that all she has to do is learn enough to make it feasible for her to extended that training over a much longer period?

As for the painting, does it mean that she didn't really need to train in painting skills, she just needed to make it feasible that the particular piece of canvas or whatever would have been painted on by the artist instead of the original canvas? Or does she need some skills to produce something a bit closer to the original so that the change is more feasible?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, you are thinking along the right lines. The more feasible it is for something to work, the easier it is to Forge that thing. This is similar to what happens with the Breaths in Warbreaker. The closer you can make something to seeming alive, the less Breath it takes.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 5 ()
#60 Copy

Love-that-dog

Why won't Moonlight's stamp wear off by itself?

Brandon Sanderson

This is an excellent question. The answer is—it might someday. But the other question is—it's been a spell. Depending on where I time these things, it's either been hundreds of years or decades since... Moonlight has had a lot of time to practice with powers and investigate what's possible in the Cosmere with magic and talk to some of the smartest people in the Cosmere about how it works. You should draw from the way the soulstamps work, the more mundane ones, that Shai has made a ton of progress in pushing forward the art of Forgery.

Shadows of Self Chicago signing ()
#61 Copy

Questioner

 Do the monks of Dakhor and Forging suffer from the same weakness of distance as the Elantrian magic?

Brandon Sanderson

Do the monks of Dakhor and Forging suffer from the same [weakness of] distance as the Elantrian magic? Yes they do. It's a little less pronounced in the monks because of certain things they are doing. It is very pronounced for Forging.

Chris King interview ()
#62 Copy

Chris King

Would it be easy for a Forger who'd once almost lost her arm (freak guillotine accident is the example that is used) to make a stamp to lose it temporarily, or would it require some more involved Forging than "my arm actually got cut off that one time"?

Brandon Sanderson

No, and-- The more plausible something is the easier the Forging is definitely.

Chris King interview ()
#63 Copy

Chris King

Is it possible to use a Soulstamp to give Shardplate life or at least achieve a robotic status?

Brandon Sanderson

Wow, it is really, really hard to Invest things that have already been Invested. Regular-- Let's just say that, it is really hard to do that. Part of the reason why it is difficult for instance to Push or Pull on something that is inside of somebody because the Investiture is interfering and you would have that similar problem doing anything to Shardplate with any of the magics.

JordanCon 2018 ()
#64 Copy

yulerule

Can you Forge liquids, like-- Does that go into Bloodsealing, can you change their blood type?

Brandon Sanderson

OK, can you use Forgery to, say, change someone's blood type? Yes. Can you Forge liquids? A little harder to stamp liquids, so this kind of comes down to, can you--

yulerule

Like, if you have a glass of water and you put salt in the water can you Forge it or make it and make it--

Brandon Sanderson

This is possible, but it requires a few little workarounds. Obviously you can do it because you Forge somebody, and they're mostly liquid.

yulerule

But you're putting in on a hard surface.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, in the same way that you would with thr liquid you would probably--

yulerule

Touch some ice?

Brandon Sanderson

No, you would probably take the cup, and make it part of the whole, and if you can-- Remember in the cosmere, it depends on how you view a thing. Is it a whole? Do you view this as a cup of water, or do you view it as a cup and the water? Do you view a person as a vessel and the blood inside them, or together as a person? And that perception really affects your magic. So it's possible, for instance, to Forge a cup of water, Forging just the cup is easier than Forging just the water.

/r/books AMA 2015 ()
#65 Copy

VindicationKnight

If you were to use Forgery for brainwashing, say turning a criminal into a law abiding citizen (not practical but hey it is a what if) would they not remember who they had been? Or would they just not care?

Brandon Sanderson

Depends on the extent of the Forgery. If you reforge someone so their body and soul think they got amnesia, then had a certain set of experiences (very hard to do) then no, they wouldn't remember. Most often, it doesn't work this way, and you simply add memories you don't really have.

Holiday signing ()
#67 Copy

Questioner

Could a Forger re-write their history to adjust the kind of metal they burn as an Allomancer?

Brandon Sanderson

They could, but it actually wouldn't do anything, because the magic would not be able to replicate the other magic.

Questioner

So they would not be able to re-write history in the necessary way?

Brandon Sanderson

They would not be able to. I mean they could, but it wouldn’t have an effect, does that make sense? It would do nothing, it would be like you can create the stamp, the stamp would look like it was working but you just wouldn't end up with Allomancy.