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[Comatose]

Notes from my MB:FE reread
(page numbers are from the original hard cover edition)

- "Most of the buildings had been built from stone blocks, with tile roofs for the wealthy, and simple, peaked wooden roofs for the rest. The structures were packed closely together, making them seem squat despite the fact that they were generally three stories high.
"The tenements and shops were uniform in appearance..."
- "Interspersed throughout the city were a dozen or so monolithic keeps. Intricate, with rows of spearlike spires or deep archways..."
- "Most of the open ground in the city was around these keeps."
- "Every structure in Luthadel -- virtually every structure Kelsier had ever seen-- had been blackened to some degree."
(2.37)

-Luthadel's main export is metal, Kredik Shaw is several times larger than any nobleman's keep, a coloured vest is a sign of nobility, workers wear "simple coats and trousers."
(2.38)

- "Tall, and blocky, the building had a massive rose window in the front, though the glass was dark from the outside. Two large banners hung down beside the window, the sooth-stained red cloth proclaiming praises to the Lord Ruler." - on the Canton of Finance (2.42)

-High Prelan Arriev has tattoos extending all the way back to his ears and up over his forehead. (2.44)

- "[Obligators] are trained to recognize when their passions are being manipulated. Even the high nobility are forbidden from Pulling or Pushing the emotions of an obligator.?" (3.59)

-"Even among the nobility, Vin, Allomancy is modestly rare... ...with most of its powerful lines among the high nobility. However, breeding alone does not guarantee Allomantic strength."
-"You can usually find one Misting in... oh, about ten thousand mixed-breed skaa. The better and closer, the noble ancestry, the more likely the skaa is to be a misting." (3.61)

- "Most ranking obligators in the steel ministry are high noblemen." (3.62)
-Even amongst the nobility, Mistborn are incredibly rare. (3.62)

-At the Massacre of Tougier, three centuries before the events of FE, seven thousand skaa were slaughtered for rebelling. Kelsier lists the "occaisonal raid of a traveling canal boat or the kidnapping of a minor noble official," as the rebellion's successes.
- "It's difficult enough to get one in a thousand to listen to us, let alone rebel!" (4.72)
*Maybe this could be because of our rebellion: to cover it up, even whispers of rebellion are now harshly punished....

-Kelsier claims to have found the eleventh metal in the north, on the far peninsula (4.79)

-Venture has a standing force of several hundred men, and the local house nobility includes a good two dozen mistings, and a dozen haze killers. (5.86)

-Desciption of Keep Venture: "While it maintained a defensive wall around the grounds, the keep itself was more an artistic construction than a fortification. Sturdy buttressings arched out from the sides, allowing for intricate windows and delicate spires. Brilliant stained-glass windows stretched high long the sides of the rectangular building, and they shone with light from within, giving the surrounding mists a veriegated glow."
"He found the balcony with ease. Wide and broad, it was probably a sitting balcony, used to entertain small groups."
"The second room was a quiet, greenhouse-like conservatory. Low beds containing cultivated bushes and small trees ran through the room, and one wall was made up of enormous floor-to-ceiling windows to provide sunlight for the plants. Though ti was dark, Kelsier knew that the plants would all be of slightly different colors than the typical brown-some would be white, others ruddy, and perhaps even a few light yellow. Plants that weren't brown were a rarity cultivated and kept by the nobility."
The room next to the conservatory: "was obviously a study; a lantern burned on each wall beside bookcases, and it had a desk in the corner."
"There was a large safe in the corner of the room . . . . . . another strong source of metal shone from inside the eatsern wall."
"Like many walls in noble keeps, this one was painted with a soft mural. Foreign creatures lounged beneath a red sun. The false section of wall was under two feet square, and it has been placed so that its cracks were obscured by the mural."
"the panel swung open, revealing a small safe embedded in the wall."
(5.88-90)

-Ministry Doctrine says the Lord Ruler brought the ash and mists as a punishment for the people's lack of faith (6.103)

- "The rebellion has been trying for a thousand years to get the skaa in this city to rise up. It never works." (6.104)

- "The high nobility are growing increasingly powerful--the Lord Ruler barely has control over them anymore, which is why we have a chance of shattering his grip." (6.104)

- the rebellion uses the Arguois caverns to hide people, and the ministry knows about them. (6.106)

-Renoux is a Western Lord, with a great deal of power in the Farmost dominance [meaning that is where he is based?]. He wants to ship fine southern weapons to the north in order to gain enough money and contacts to establish himself in Luthadel. (6.110)
- "Major House wars seem to happen every couple of centuries or so"
"The high nobility take Mistborn attacks very seriously--they have an unspoken agreement that they won't use Mistborn to assassinate each other." (6.112)

-"Can you name all ten Great Houses of Luthadel in order of power?"
"Venture, Hasting, Elariel, Tekiel, Lekal, Erikeller, Erikell, Haught, Urbain, and Buvidas." (9.157)

- "I am Lady Valette Renoux, fourth cousin to Lord Teven Renoux, who owns this mansion. My parents--Lord Hadren and Lady Fellette Renoux--live in Chakath, a city in the Western Dominance. Major export, wool. My family works in trading dyes, specifically blushdip red, from the snails that are common there, and callowfield yellow, made from tree bark. As part of their trade agreement with their distant cousin [Lord Renoux], my parents sent me down her to Luthadel, so I can spend some time at court." (Emphasis mine) (9.158)

-A few old religions lasted into the 5th century (10.174)

-"A nobleman pedestrian was not an irregular sight, especially in the commercial distrect, where more fortunate skaa and less fortunate noblemen mixed on the streets-- though each group did it's best to ignore eachother." (11.181)

-"There hasn't been an all-out war among the Great Houses for over an century, but the last one was devastating. We need to replicate it." (12.187)

-The Venture Ball was "far beneath [the Lord Ruler's] attention."

-Venture's keep description: "The massive building was enveloped in an aura of misty light."
"eight enormous lights blazed along the outside of the rectangular building. They were as bright as bonfires, yet far more steady, and they had mirrors aranged behind them to make them shine directly on the keep."
"A crowd of aristocrats was pooling slightly in the foyer, waiting to enter the main hall."
"The Venture main hall was a grand and imposing sight. Four or five daunting stories high, the hall was several times as long as it was wide. Enormous, rectangular stained-glass windows ran in rows along the hall, and the strange, powerful lights outside shone on them directly, throwing a cascade of colors across the room. Massive, ornate stone pillars were set into the walls, running between the windows. Just before the pillars met the floor, the wall fell away, indenting and creating a single-story gallery beneath the windows themselves. Dozens of white-clothed tables sat in this area, shadowed behind the pillars and beneath the overhand. In the distance, at the far end of the hallway, Vin could make out a low balcony set into the wall, and this held a smaller group of tables."
"The dining table of Lord Straff Venture," Sazed whispered, gesturing towards the far balcony."
"A string orchestra played on a platform to her left, providing music for the couples who danced in the very center of the hall. To her right, serving tables held platter upon platter of foods."
The windows" were religious, like many scenes preferred by the aristocracy"
"Central to many of the windows was the Deepness. Deep black--or, in window terms, violet--it was formless, with vengeful, tentacle-like masses creeping across several windows. Vin looked up at it, along with the brillliantly colored depictions of the Lord Ruler..."
"The pillars in the hall weren't just normal columns, they were carved masterpieces. Wide banners hung from the ceiling just above the windows, and the arching, lofty ceiling, was crisscrossed by structural buttressing and dotted with capstones. Somehow she knew each of those capstones was intricately carved, despite the fact that they were too far away to be seen from below."
"a lofty, inset balcony that ran just above the entire far wall. It was like a counterpart to the alcove beneath the windows, except it ran at the top of the wall, between the stained glass windows and the ceiling. She could see movement upon it, couples and singles strolling along, looking at the party below."
"There are stairs just to the side of the orchestra, my lady," the boy said. "Climb them to the top landing."
"The upper balcony was dark--lit only by several small blue-glassed lanterns on the walls--and it gave an amazing view of the stained-glass windows . . . . . . The stone tiles of the floor below formed a pattern she hadn't noticed, a kind of freeform curving of gray upon white. Mists?"
The railing "like the lantern bracket behind her, was intricate and detailed--both had been wrought in the form of thick, curving vines. To her sides, the tops of the pillars were carved into stone animals that appeared frozen in the motion of jumping off the balcony."
(12.188-195)

-"The solitary table will mark you as single . . . . . . respectfully and rightly, you can refuse these men. They will assume you are simply flustered by your first ball, and no harm will be done." (12.190).

-Balls require invitations. (12.190)

-"The garrison watches the skaa, Vin thought, Apparently the obligators perform a similar function for the nobility." (12.191)

-"Long hair was certainly the fashion, though an equal number kept their hair up as left it down." (12.192).

-"Maybe he won't attend."
"Perhaps," Sazed said, "But not likely. The young nobility are quite fond of their nightly diversions."
"They do this every night?"
"Nearly," Sazed said. "The balls are, after all, a prime reason people come to Luthadel. IF one is in town and there is a ball--and there almost always is--one generally attends, especially if one is young and unmarried. You won't be expected to attend quite so frequently, but we should probably get you up to attending two or three a week." (12.192-193).

"To the steward's dinner," Sazed said. " A servant of my rank is generally dismissed once my master's meal is finished. I hesitate to go and leve you, but that room will be filled with the self-important servants of the high nobility. There will be conversations there that Master Kelsier wishes me to overhear." (12.193).


-"Vin's father is an Obligator," Kelsier said. "And apparently and important one if he had enough pull to go to a ball like this." (Note, Vin's father is Lord Prelan, but Kelsier does not know this). (13.201)

-"The Lord Ruler controls its production and distribution. The Great Houses get to buy a monthly stipend of Atium, which is one of the main ways the Lord Ruler controls them. Go ahead and swallow it." (13.206)

-Atium cannot be sold by theives, they are tracked down and executed if they try. (13.206)

-"Atium is fragile, and your digestive juices will ruin it in a matter of hours." (13.208)

-Rain clears the mists slightly (14.209)

-Kredik Shaw has no outer wall (14.211)

-"None of the guards in this palace wear metal. Haze killers, they were called." (14.212)

-"as intoxicating as streetspice," (17.238)

- Elariel Ballroom Description (Starting 18.247) "...the steps to Keep Elariel. It was a bit smaller than the keep of House Venture. However, Keep Elariel apparently had a separate party ballroom, while House Venture had it's gatherings in the enormous main hall..."

"...the squat ballroom building?one of several low wings extending from the main keep..."

"The Elariel ballroom was very different from the majestic Venture grand hall. The dim room was only a single story high, and while it had a lot of stained-glass windows, they were all in the ceiling. Circular rose-window skylights shone from above, lit by small lime-lights on the roof. Each table was set with candles, and despite the light from above, there was a reserved darkness about the room. It seemed... private, despite the numerous people in attendance..."

"This room had obviously been designed to accommodate parties. A sunken dancing floor lay at it's center, and this was better lit than the rest of the room. There were two tiers of tables circling the dancing floor: The first tier was only a few feet above, the other was farther back and about twice as high..."

"The deep, crystalline colors from above projected patterns across tables and people, creating an impressive atmosphere, yet making it difficult to distinguish faces..." (18.247)

-It's two months travel by canal to get from Chakath to Luthadel, including stops. (18.251)

-"...the plantation system has produced a far more stable government than previous methodologies. The structure of Dominances with each provincial lord taking command of and responsibility for his skaa has fostered a competitive environment where discipline is harshly enforced.
The Lord Ruler apparently finds this system troubling because of the freedom it allows the aristocracy. However, the relative lack of organized rebellion is undoubtedly enticing; during the two hundred years that the system has been in place, there hasn?t been a major uprising in the Five Inner Dominances.
Of course, this politicial system is only an extension of the greater theocratic rulership. The aristocracy's independence has been tempered by a renewed vigor in obligator enforcement. No lord, no matter how lofty, would be advised to think himself above their law. The call from an Inquisitor can come from anyone." -("Current Political Structure") (18.257)

-"You could learn much from the ladies here in Luthadel."
"Such as?" Vin asked, trying to keep the snappishness out of her voice.
"Look at yourself sometime, child. Hair like you've undergone some terrible disease, so scrawny that your dress hangs like a bag. Being a noblewoman in Luthadel requires... perfection. Not that." -(18.258)

-"When regarding the Final Empire in its entirety, one certain fact is unmistakable. For a nation ruled by a self-proclaimed divinity, the empire has experienced a frightening number of colossal leadership errors. Most of these have been successfully covered up, and can only be found in the metalminds of Feruchemists or on the pages of banned texts. However, one only need look to the near past to note such blunders as the Massacre at Devanex, the revision of the Deepness Doctrine, and the relocation of the Renates peoples.

The Lord Ruler does not age. that much, at least, is undeniable. This text, however, purports to prove that he is by no means infallible. During the days before the Ascension, mankind suffered chaos and uncertainty caused by an endless cycle of kings, emperors, and other monarchs. One would think that now, with a single, immortal governor, society would finally have an opportunity to find stability and enlightenment. It is the remarkable lack or either attribute in the Final Empire that is the Lord Ruler's most grievous oversight."

-Book of the False Dawn (18.260)

-Keep Tekiel has low garden wall (19.265), a larger wall, and 'outer grounds' outside of the garden wall (19.1266). They also have a "whitewased garden veranda that sat beside a small reflicting pool" (19.266).

-"The Great Houses were growing nervous. Keeping five Tineyes on watch wouldn?t be that hard for a house like Tekiel, but the noblemen Allomancers would resent being forced into simple guard duty. And if there were five Tineyes on watch, chances were good that a number of Thugs, Coinshots, and Lurchers were on call as well. Luthadel was quietly in a state of alert." (19.266)
-"However with five Tineyes on watch, Kelsier wouldn?t be able to get very close to the keep without serious risk of being spotted." (19.266)

-Lord Charrs Entrone was known for enjoying skaa blood fights. Entrone is an ally of Tekiel, and both Entrone and Tekiel are enemies of Izenry (Izenry is Tekiel's rival). Crews Geffenry is a known mistborn, whose house was petitioning House Tekiel for an alliance. (19.266).

-"There hadn't been a true war in the Final Empire for centuries. The occasional 'rebellion' consisted of nothing more than a few thousand men hiding in hills or caves, coming out for periodic raids." (19.267)

-"I'm no merchant, skaa," Kelsier said. "I don't care about profits and shipping!" Let him chew on that. Now he thinks I'm of a Great House--of course if he hadn?t suspected that because of the mistcloak, then he doesn't deserve his reputation." (19.268)

-"..the group of nobling philosophers that lounge at the Broken Quill?" (19.269)

-"Straff Venture snorted. His house was powerful--incredibly powerful--and relied on no specific industry or enterprise to fuel its wealth. That was a very difficult position to achieve in the final Empire, considering the Lord Ruler's taxes and atium costs." (19.271)

-"Its author--Deluse Couvre--went on to write some books that were even more damning. Though he didn't blaspheme against Allomancy, the obligators made an exception in his case and strung him up on a hook anyway." (19.275)
-"the Lord Ruler is far more lenient with the nobility than he is with skaa. He sees them as the children of his long-dead friends and allies, the men who supposedly helped him defeat the Deepness. He occasionally lets them get away with things like reading edgy texts or assassinating family members." (19.275)

-"I suspect that many full Mistborn neglect these powers," Marsh said. "And that is a mistake. Bronze and copper may not be as flashy as other metals, but they can be very powerful in the hands of someone properly trained." (20.283)

-"You can identify precisely which parts of a person's emotions a Soother or Rioter intends to influence. You'll also be able to tell when someone is flaring their metal. If you grow very skilled, you might even be able to tell when they're running low on metals." (20.284)
-"You can already determine pulse origins. That takes practice." (20.284)
-Bronze is a pushing metal. (20.284)

"It took me six months of practice to distinguish pulse lengths--if you'd done it on the first try, I'd have felt incompetent. (20.285)
"If you can tell Pulling metals from Pushing metals already... well, you apparently have talent." (20.285)
"Internal metals, like bronze and copper, give off longer pulses than external metals, like iron and steel. Practice also lets you sense the three patterns within the pulses: one for the physical metals, one for the mental metals, and one for the two greater metals.
Pulse length, metal group, and Push-Pull variance--once you know these three things, you will be able to tell exactly which metals your opponent is burning. A long pulse that beats against you and has a quick pattern will be pewter--the internal Pushing physical metal." (20.285)

-It took weeks of travel to reach the caverns by canal boat from Luthadel. (21.290)

- "I've known skaa women to have as many as a dozen children," Ham said. "But I can?t name a single major noble family with more than three." (21.298)
- "And the height difference? They say you used to be able to tell skaa and noblemen apart by sight alone. That's changed, probably through interbreeding, but most skaa are still kind of short."
"That's nutritional. Skaa don't get enough to eat." (Note: There really are physical differences between nobles and skaa) (21.298)

- "Ordinary skaa, even city skaa, didn't know of things like Steelpushing or Pewter-burning. When they saw Kelsier flying through the air or sparring with supernatural strength they would just attribute it to formless 'Allomancy Magics." (21.299)

- "Noblemen have a tradition. When two men have a dispute, the settle it with a duel. Defeat my champion and you are free to leave."
"And if he defeats me?" Bilg asked.
"Then you'll be dead." (21.302)

- Dresses for daily use are only slightly less luxurious than Vin's ball gowns. (22.308).

- "it has long been imperial fashion to accent one's wardrobe with metal... ...many of the nobility only wear wood painted to look like metal." (22.309)

-"You know we can't play unless we have a fourth man." (Referring to Shelldry) (23.319)

-Obligators witness every mercantile contract, authorize weddings, divorces, land purchases, and ratify the inheritance of titles. (23.319)

- "Self important in a way that could make even a confident person uncertain, Shan was--as Vin was beginning to realize--exactly what most of the aristocracy thought was the perfect woman." (23.320)

-Keep Hasting description: "The ball this evening was being held at the marvelous Keep Hasting. Its tall, round central keep was attended by six auxiliary towers, each set off from the main building a short distance and connected to it by walltop walkways. All seven towers were set with winding, curving patterns of stained glass."
"The ballroom was at the top of the wide central tower. Fortunately, a system of skaa-powered pulley platforms kept noble guests from having to walk all the way to the top. The ballroom istelf wasn't as sepectacular as somm Vin had visisted--just a squarish chamber with vaulted ceilings and colored glass runing around the perimeter." (23.322)
"The balcony-one of many jutting from the top of the central Hasting tower--was empty. A single stone lanter stood as part of the railing, and some tastefully placed plants lined the corners . . . . . . the balcony was close enough to the keep's warmth that the mist was weak." (23.323).
Stairwells at the side of the room lead to auxillary towers (23.327).
"the tower ahead of hear had a lit sentrypost at its base."
"The power appeared to have several rooms, and a couple of them were lit." (23.328).

-Roughly a third of noblemen visit skaa brothels. (23.323)

- "By whom? Country nobility? Valette, they don?t know us. They're jealous because we control most of the canal systems." (23.323)

- Lekal and Hasting are political enemies of Venture (23.327).

- "Every year, the nobility grow weaker," Jastes said in agreement. "Our skaa belong to the Lord Ruler, as does our land. His obligators determine who we can marry and what we can believe. Our canals, even, are officially 'his' property. Ministry assassins kill men who speak out too openly, or who are too successful. This is no way to live." (23.229)

-"They're doing what noblemen do--planning alliances. It's not unusual for the next generation to start organizing their house coalitions before they come to power" (23.330).

- "House Tekiel is vulnerable," she said. "Its allies are scattering , and the vultures are moving in. Some whisper that debts and lost business will force the Tekiel to sell of their keep by the end of the month. There's no way they can afford to continue paying the Lord Ruler's keep tax." (24.336)
- "Most of the Tekiel nobility--including Mistings and Mistborn-- will have to move to outer plantations to recoup their losses." (24.336)

- "There are places in the final empire that a lot of people don't know about--places where a man with enough money can live the life of a nobleman." (24.339)
- "the game can get addicting" (24.339)

-"the customary crowded lines of people waited for permission to pass through the city gates. She and Ham walked quietly past the solemn group--workers being sent out to the docks, men off to work one of the outer mills alongside the river or lake, lesser noblemen wishing to travel. All had to have a good reason to leave the city; the Lord Ruler strictly controlled travel inside his realm." (24.340)

-Valtroux City and Holstep are two cities in the north of the central dominance, near the caverns. (24.343)

-A two week trip can be done in sixteen hours on a pewter drag. (25.348)

-defeating the Holstep garrison was the greatest skaa victory in decades, perhaps even in centuries. (25.355).

- EXECUTION DESCRIPTION: "Supposedly all the men in the city, skaa or noble, were required to attend execution ceremonies, but theiving crews knew how to remain hidden. Bells rang in the distance, announcing the event, and obligators watched at the sides of the streets. They would go into mills, forges, and random houses seraching for those who disobeyed the call, meting out death as a punishment." (26.362)

- "Luthadel wasn't like most other cities; its population was enormous. Even with only the men in attendance, there was no way everyone would have a view of the executions." (26.362)

- "The noblemen were ate the center of the square, separated from the skaa by soldiers. They were close to the central fountain patio, which stood about five feet above the rest of the square. Someone had constructed seating for the nobility, and they lounged, as if they were visiting some show or horse race. Many had servants holding up parasols against the ash, but it was falling lightly enough that some just ignored it.
Standing beside the noblemen were the obligators, regular ones in gray, Inquisitors in black. Vin shivered. There were eight inquisitors, their lanky forms standing a head above the obligators. But it wasn't just height that separated the dark creatures from their cousins. There was an air, a distinctive posture, about the Steel Inquisitors." (26.363)

-The Lord Ruler's carriage is all black, pulled by white stallions. (26.364)

- "The aristocracy is primarily a financial institution, and lack of funds will bring any house down." (27.372)

- "If Venture falls, the whole final empire would feel the tremors." (27.372)

- Obligators usually have five years of training before joining the ministry. (27.381)

- "He needed to tell them he was a Misting so that he could get into the more secretive ministry sects. Most of the higher ranking obligators are mistings of one sort or another. They tend to favour their own kind."(27.381)

- "The obligators say that Inquisitors change occasionally. The creatures are very long-lived, but they do eventually die of old age." (27.382)

- Keep Lekal description: Keep Lekal has the most detailed stained glass windows.
"Keep Lekal's Ballroom was shaped like the inside of a pyramid. The dance floor was set on a waist-high platform at the very center of the room, and the dining talbes sat of four similar platofroms surrounding it. Servants scuttled through the trenches running between the platforms..."
"Four tiers of balconies ran along the inside perimeter of the pyramidal room, each one a little closer to the point at the top, each one extending just a little bit more over the dance floor. Though te main room was well lit, the balconies themselves were shadowed by their overhangs. The design was intended" to allow proper viewing of windows.(28.385)
Each window "was an extravagant, detailed marvel of resplendent color. Exotic animals pranced, distant landscapes enticed, and portraits of famous noblemen sat proudly." There were also windows dedicated the the ascension, which Vin recognizes from the log book (28.386).
"Most of the windows glowed inside small viewing alcoves along the balcony, and so the balcony before her was interspersed with pockets of dark and color." (28.386).

- Other houses besides Great ones have balls, perhaps there is only one Great House Ball a week? (28.386)

- "If all went well, the entire city would soon expect a Hasting withdrawal. Their allies would plan for it, and might even being to withdraw themselves. People seeking to buy weapons would instead look other places, fearing that Hasting wouldn?t be able to make good on contracts once it left. When Hasting didn?t withdraw, it would make them look indecisive. Their allies gone, their income weakened, they coudl very well be the next house to fall.
House Hasting, however, was one of the easy ones to work against. It had a reputation for extreme subterfuge, and people would believe that it was planning a secret retreat. In addition, Hasting was a strong mercantile house--meaning it depended a great deal upon its contracts to survive. A house with such and obvious, dominating source of income also had an obvious weakness. Lord Hasting had worked hard to increase his house's influence over the last few decades, and in doing so he had extended his house's resources to the limit." (28.387-388)

- "Their reputation destroyed, their finances unhinged, the Tekiel had tried to pull out of the city--and this final show of weakness had been to much. Some of Tekiel?s nobility had been assassinated before they left; the rest had been found in the burned-out ruins of their canal boats, apparently hit by bandits. Vin, however, knew of no theiving band who would are alaughter so many noblemen.
"Kelsier still hadn?t been able to discover which house was behind the murders, but the Luthadel nobility didn't seem to care who the culprit was. House Tekiel had allowed itself to grow weak, and nothing was more embarrassing to the aristocracy than a Great House that couldn?t maintain itself." (28.388)

- "The atmosphere was only made more dangerous by its polite niceties. Underneath that front were plots, assassinations, and--perhaps most importantly--Mistborn. It was no accident that all the balls she had attended recently had displayed great numbers of guards, both wearing armor and not. The parties now served the additional purpose of warning and showing strength." (28.388)

- The Hastings finished off the Tekiels (28.390)

-Venture's stability depends entirely on the Lord Ruler's whims. He doesn't like when the delivery schedule is disrupted. Elend's father "[C]an't meet the Lord Ruler's quotas, and the last time that happened... ...things could soon go very bad for the Ventures." The Lord Ruler sells extra amounts of atium for lavish amounts. (28.391)

- "The longer you stay in Luthadel, the more you'll realize that little we do here is done in the name of wisdom. The Lord Ruler wears metal rings--and so, therefore, does the nobility." (28.392)

-Keep Lekal has a gentleman's lounge, "a small chamber adjacent to the ballroom," furnished in deep green colors. (28.395)

- "My family hired thses women--we know their houses, their backgrounds, and their allegiances." (28.396)

- "He was a Tineye--his senses were so keen that he'd probably heard Elend's carriage approaching outside." (28.397-398).

- "Hasting is the second-most-powerful House in the city. If we made an allegiance with them, together we could keep Luthadel from chaos. We could stop the house war, not enflame it." (Elend speaking of House Venture) (28.398)

- "She had seen snow on some distant peaks, but she had rarely seen it fall--and even then it was usually just an icy slush." (29.402)

- "Renoux had to keep a low profile; too many Allomancers would make him stand out." (29.408)

- "There's an unused drainage ditch that passes right under Keep Lekal's defensive wall. You'd think they'd get that patched up." (29.409)

- The Inquisitors make the nobility uncomfortable, and don't normally come to balls. (29.410)

- Marsh's map has some notes on House Defenses (Inquisition notes?) (29.411)

- "That's a hundred and thirty Ministry Mistings--they must have recruited across the entire Central Dominance to gather those kinds of numbers." (29.411)

- "It took returning to the Venture ballroom to remind Vin what true majesty was... ...There was something special about Keep Venture, however--something that the other keeps strived for, but never quite achieved. It was as if Venture was the parent, and the others were well-taught children. All of the keeps were beautiful, but there was no denying which one was the finest." (30.415)

- "House Shunah has already announced that it won't be holding any more balls." (30.418)

- "You've killed a fully trained Mistborn? Kelsier thought with shock. You?ve practiced for barely eight months." (31.430)

- "when House Elariel hears that she was found dead on Venture property..." (referring to Shan Elariel) (31.436)

- "They were noblemen, so Venture couldn't execute them, but he was very fond of the more brutal disciplinary forms." (31.441)

- "They'd been engaged, and she'd never even mentioned that she was an Allomancer. that probably meant...
She'd been a plant all along. Perhaps House Elariel had planned to have Elend killed once an Elariel grandson was born to the house title." (31.442)

- Straff is young and healthy for a Lord of his power. (31.442)

- "Keep Hasting's destruction had been expected for some time-- it had suffered a half-dozen raids from different houses during the last week. Allies withdrawing, finances wrecked, it was only a matter of time before it fell..
Oddly none of the houses attacked during the daytime. There was a feigned air of secrecy about the war..." (32.446)
- "Three entire great houses were no more, and the rest were seriously weakened. IIt would take decades for the nobility to recover from their own squabbling." (32.446)

- Skaa tenements (32.449)

- "It's like the regular obligators don't even care about the world outside, except for the prestige they earn by being the most clever or successful in applying the Lord Ruler's dictates.
The Inquisitors, however are different. They are far more loyal to the Lord Ruler than the regular obligators--and this is, perhaps, part of the dissension between the two groups.
Regardless, I feel that I am close. They do have a secret, Kelsier. A weakness. I'm sure of it. The other obligators whisper of it, though none of them know it." (32.452)

- "And the Inquisitors aren't riding with the prisoners--they'll come down from the palace, like last time. There can't be more than a hundred soldiers guarding those people.? (33.462)

- Inquisitor fight. (34.469)

- "He was dressed in a black and white uniform somewhat like a nobleman's suit, but far more exaggerated. The coat reached all the way to his feet, and trailed behind him as he walked. His vest wasn't colored, but a pure black, though it was accented with brilliant white markings. As Vin had heard, his fingers glittered with rings, the symbols of his power...

...Handsome, with jet black hair and pale skin, the Lord Ruler was tall, thin, and confident. and he was young...? (34.477)

- "There are four great houses that retain a strong military presence in the city." (Venture, Elariel, Lekal...?) (35.489)

- "Temadre predicted this, Elend realized. So did half a dozen other political theorists. They said the Final Empire couldn't last forever. God at its head or not, the people would someday rise up...
...What was it Temadre warned in his writings? That, when a real rebellion finally came, the skaa would slaughter wantonly... that every nobleman?s life would be forfeit.
He predicted that the rebellion would die out quickly, but that it would leave piles of corpses in its wake. thousands of deaths. Tens of thousands." (36.496)

- "We were leaveing anyway. Something... happened at the Pits a few days ago. The Lord Ruler isn?t going to be very happy when he discovers it."

- Keep Lekal is more defensible than Venture. (36.498)

- "He seemed so... worn. He sat strongly on his throne, but there was still a weariness to his posture and his voice." (36.503)

- "It's done," Ham said. "Keep Elariel just fell. Looks like Lekal [and the Venture soldiers who evacuated to there] is still holding, however." (37.508)

- One of Venture's colors is red. (37.513)

-Despite the earlier note that all palace guards are hazekillers, the Ministry soldiers, though they wield quarter staffs instead of swords or spears, are wearing metal. (37.514)

- "The Inquisitors had been waiting for two centuries, carefully politicking, subtly encouraging corruption and dissension among the regular obligators. And finally it had worked." (38.519)

- "The Lord Ruler chucked as he sat back on his throne. 'You'll have little success with Kar, child. He was a soldier, many years ago. He knows how to hold a person so that they can?t break his grip, no matter how strong they may be." (38.520)

- "Your rebellion--you think I haven't seen its like before? You think I haven't destroyed entire armies on my own? What will it take before you people stop questioning? How many centuries must I prove myself before you idiot skaa see the truth? How many of you must I kill!" (38.523)

- "All eleven of them.. throb. The pain reacts to my emotions somehow." (E.532)

- "The kandra?' Sazed said. 'I'm fear even the Keepers know little of them. They are related to mistwraiths--perhaps even the same creatures, just older. Because of their reputation, they generally prefer to remain unseen--though some of the noble houses hire them on occasion." (E.533)

WORD OF BRANDONS

Quote

Blast. I've got that in my records somewhere. It's been a while, now. Off the top of my head, I believe Luthadel was the biggest city with around two million. (Peter might have a better read on this.) I was shooting for 1920 London, but with a slightly better flow of food in because of the imperial structure an absolute monarch offers. It was the biggest city by a long shot, though. Others would have trouble topping 100k. Probably a 25%/75% split urban rural, weighted on rural, through the entire empire. Scope is relatively small. Smaller than the US. Bigger than Korea. If you email [email protected], he might have the actual scale.

Brandon

Note: Total population of the Final Empire being around 100 million, with 1-2 million in Luthadel is a good guess at the population, and if it is off, it is close.

Quote

The longest lasting of the Allomantic metals is actually copper, which is used by Smokers to hide Allomancy. Tin is second, however. Steel and Iron are actually rather quick, but since they're generally used in bursts, it's hard to notice. Both brass and zinc are medium, as is bronze. Pewter burns the fastest of the basic eight, though atium and gold both burn faster than it does.
In my mind, it's related to how much 'work' the metal has to do. That's why pewter, steel, and iron burn so quickly. A lot of weight and power is getting thrown around, while copper only has to do something simple. However, I never really set any of these things hard-fast.
And, only atium is really all that rare. Because of the value of the metals, the noble houses expended a lot of resources finding and exploiting mines to produce the metals. This resulted in a slightly higher value for most of them as opposed to our world, but not really noticeably so, because Allomancers really don't need that much metal. Even fast burning metals, like pewter, are generally only swallowed in very small amounts. (i.e. A small bit goes a long way.)

[Comatose]

Hey Everyone.

To continue my notes and quotes, I've paged through WoA, HoA, and the Mistborn Adventure Game and have compiled all the useful (and/or interesting) facts about the Kandra that I could find. As a person who is preparing to write a Kandra character, the clarifications I found during my research were immensely helpful. I've bolded some sections that I personally found particularly useful.

It can be difficult to find particular passages in books, but since Kandra live very different lives from us or anyone who has lived on our world, I highly suggest doing some research before attempting to play one. And now it's easier than ever, with (supposedly) all the pertinent information in one helpful place.

I'll eventually format everything and post it here, but for now, here's the copy of the google doc I've been using. It is subject to be updated as needed.

I hope you guys enjoy

EDIT: As always, the page numbers are from the original hard cover edition. Eventually I will get around to putting in chapter numbers as well, but I forgot to this time. I hope it is not too much of an inconvenience.

The Kandra Compendium

[Comatose]

I was getting annoyed always going to the google doc, so here it is in post form (now that copy and pasting formatting works). Don't know why I didn't do it sooner. Sorry if the formatting is strange in places!

Everything we know about the Kandra and their Mistwraith Cousins
From the Books:

WELL OF ASCENSION

“His nondescript body--in a servant’s trousers and shirt--had been pelted with coins, and the blood seeped from several wounds.

He looked up at her. “What?” he asked.

“I didn’t expect there to be blood.”

OreSeur snorted. “You probably didn’t expect me to feel pain either.”

“Only with effort, Mistress. The coins shattered several of these bones. I will need a new body.”

(pg 28)

“Can you get back to the palace? Vin asked.
“With time,” OreSeur said.
(pg 29)

“He’d made it back to her rooms at the palace, but his current body was obviously unusable. He’d needed to form muscles in places that men didn’t normally have them to even keep the skeleton together, and while he healed his wounds, his body looked unnatural.”

“I cannot imitate it,” he said, “but I can use the beast’s own fur, like I use its bones.”

“A regular body takes only a few hours,” OreSeur said. “This could take longer. Getting that much fur to look right will be challenging.”
(pg 50)

“A voice box is a construction of flesh, not bone, Your Majesty,” OreSeur said. “Older kandra learn to manipulate their bodies, not just replicate them. I will need to digest a person’s corpse to memorize and re-create their exact features. However, I can improvise some things.”
(pg 66)

“Protect me?” Vin asked. “You can’t even fight.”
“The Contract forbids me from killing a human,” OreSeur said. “I could, however, go for help should you need it.”

OreSeur breathes; heavily, after chasing after Vin.
(pg 74)

“the fur parted and the flesh itself split, showing forth veins and layers of skin. Vin pulled back a bit.
“There is no need to be worried, Mistress,” OreSeur said. “My flesh is not like your own. I have more... control over it, you might say. Place the metal vial inside my shoulder.”
Vin did as asked. The flesh sealed around the vial, obscuring it from view. Experimentally, Vin burned iron. No blue lines appeared pointing toward the hidden vial.”
(pg 80)

“The “corpse” was actually a skeleton. One completely picked clean, without a hint of blood--or even tissue--marring its shiny white surfaces. A good number of the bones were broken, however.”
(pg 100)

“But it is another kandra-eaten corpse,” Vin said.
“Undoubtedly mistress,” OreSeur said. “The dogs found it because of the particular scent our digestive juices leave on recently excreted bones.”

“With tin, she easily picked out a sharp scent that reminded her of bile.
“It’s very strong,” she said, glancing at OreSeur.
He nodded. “These bones haven’t been here long, Your Majesty. A few hours at most. Perhaps even less.”
(pg 101)

“Kandra always have a Contract. Without one, they are not allowed to enter human society.”
“Never?” Vin asked.
“Never.”
“And what if this is some kind of rogue kandra?” Vin said.
“Such a thing does not exist,” OreSeur said firmly.

“if he did take the body of someone in the palace, he didn’t kill them himself. Kandra can’t kill humans, right?”
OreSeur nodded. “We are all bound by that rule.”

“Would cutting him work?”
OreSeur shook his head. “Kandra replicate a body perfectly, Mistress--blood, flesh, skin, and muscle. You have seen when I split my skin.”
(pg 116)

“You do not understand. It is not who a kandra is that’s important. It’s who a kandra becomes. The bones he takes, the role he fulfills. None of my previous masters have asked me to do something like this.”
(pg 117)

“You can Riot or Soothe our emotions if you wish, but it will have no effect. We won’t even know that you are trying to manipulate us.” [Note: Kandra actually can tell when they are being soothed or rioted, though it has no effect].

“We are not required to reveal secrets about kandra nature.”
(pg 118)

“This is the reason for the Contract, Mistress,” OreSeur said, his muffled voice harsh as he spoke through dog’s lips. “You wonder why we don’t just run away from you? Meld into your society, and become unseen? We tried that. Long ago when the Final Empire was new. Your people found us, and they started to destroy us. They used Mistborn to hunt us down, for there were many more Allomancers in those days. Your people hated us because they feared we would replace them. We were almost completely destroyed--and then we came up with the Contract.”

“We became your tools. As long as we remain subservient, Mistress, we survive. And that is why I obey. To break the Contract would be to betray my people. We cannot fight you, not while you have Mistborn, and so we must serve you.”
(pg 203)

“And what would that change?” OreSeur asked. “I’d just get another Contract. By our laws I must wait another decade before I have time for freedom--and then only two years, during which time I won’t be able to leave the kandra Homeland. To do otherwise would risk exposure.”
(pg 204)

“You sleep barely three or four hours a day. Nobody, man, or kandra--can survive on a schedule like that for long.”
(pg 267)

“I couldn’t use them,” OreSeur said. “I haven’t digested their body--I wouldn’t know the proper arrangement of muscles and organs to make the person look correct.”
(pg 269)

“My... people have dealt with the Contract for a great long time, Mistress. I know it is difficult for you to understand why we would live under this burden, but we find it necessary. Yet, we do dream of a day when it may not be.”
“When all the humans are subject to you?” Vin asked.
OreSeur looked away. “When they’re all dead, actually.”

“We honor our Contract, even in religion. The stories say that you’ll kill yourselves off. You’re of Ruin, after all, while the kandra are of Preservation. You’re... actually supposed to destroy the world, I believe. Using the koloss as your pawns.”
(pg 299)

“The kandra actually tend to think well of the koloss, Mistress,” Oreseur said. “There is a bond between us; we both understand what it is to be slaves, we both are outsiders to the culture of the Final Empire, we both--”
(pg 300)

“We often interview people before we take their bones, Mistress,” OreSeur explained. “We’ll meet them several times, in different settings, and find ways to talk about their lives. We’ll also talk to their friends and acquaintances.”

“it is common for our master--the one who actually does the killing--to torture their victim for information.”
(pg 304)

“So many of them are suspicious and hateful of everyone around the, I had begun to think that your kind lacked the capacity for trust.”
(pg 305)

“He’s fine, Vin,” Elend said. “He’s a kandra. Broken bones mean nothing to him.”

“I’ve just never heard someone express that much concern for a kandra before.”

“He’s a kandra, Vin,” Elend repeated. “I don’t think those men could have killed him; I doubt even a Mistborn could.”

His Contract... Oreseur had attacked a human. He had broken his Contract. For her.
(pg 372)

“OreSeur...” Vin said, looking away. “Thank-you for what you did for me.”
“I fulfill my Contract.”
“I’ve been in other fights,” Vin said. “You never intervened in those.”
OreSeur didn’t answer immediately. “No, I didn’t.”
“Why this time?”
“I did what felt right, Mistress,” OreSeur said.
“Even if it contradicted the Contract?”
OreSeur sat up proudly on his haunches. “I did not break my Contract,” he said firmly.”
“But you attacked a human.”
“I didn’t kill him,” OreSeur said. “We are cautioned to stay out of combat, lest we accidentally cause a human death. Indeed, most of my brethren think that helping someone kill is the same as killing, and feel it is a breach of the Contract. The words are distinct, however. I did nothing wrong.”
“And if that man you tackled had broken his neck?”
“Then I would have returned to my kind for execution,” OreSeur said.

“Executed,” Vin said. “So you can be killed?”
“Of course Mistress,” OreSeur said. “We aren’t immortal.”
Vin eyed him.
“I will say nothing specific, Mistress,” OreSeur said. “As you might imagine, I would rather not reveal the weaknesses of my kind. Please suffice it to say that they exist.”

“But,” she said slowly, “you couldn’t be killed by swords or staves, right?”
“Correct,” OreSeur said. “Though our flesh looks like yours, and though we feel pain, beating us has no permanent effect.”
(pg 377)

“You have Allomancy,” OreSeur said.
“So, Allomancy can kill you?”
“No,” OreSeur said, shaking his canine head. “It cannot. But, perhaps we should change the topic. I’m sorry, Mistress. This is very dangerous ground for me.”

“What do you know of the origin of the kandra?”
Vin perked up. “Nothing.”
“We did not exist before the Ascension,” he said.
“You mean to say that the Lord Ruler created you?”
“That is what our lore teaches,” OreSeur said. “We are not certain of our purpose. Perhaps we were to be Father’s spies.”
“Father?” Vin said. “It seems strange to hear him spoken of that way.”
“The Lord Ruler created us, Mistress,” OreSeur said. “We are his children.”
“And I killed him,” Vin said. “I... feel like I should apologize.”
“Just because he is our Father does not mean we accepted everything he did, Mistress,” OreSeur said. “Cannot a human love his father, yet not believe he is a good person?”
“I suppose.”
“Kandra theology about Father is complex,” OreSeur said. “Even for us, it is difficult to sort through it sometimes.”
Vin frowned. “OreSeur? How old are you?”
“Old,” he said simply.
“Older than Kelsier?”
“Much,” OreSeur. “But not as old as you are thinking. I do not remember the Ascension.”

“Father took little thought of the kandra from about the second century after his Ascension,” OreSeur said. “We tried to be independent for a time, but it was as I explained, humankind resented us. Feared us. And, some of them knew of our weaknesses. When my ancestors considered their options, they eventually chose voluntary servitude as opposed to forced slavery.”
(pg 378)

“She focused, and Pushed on his emotions with a powerful Soothing. Again, nothing happened. Just as he’d told her. She sat for a moment. And then, impulsively, she burned duralumin and tried one final, massive Push.
OreSeur immediately let out a howl so bestial and unexpected that Vin jumped to her feet in shock, flaring pewter.
OreSeur fell to the bed, shaking.”

“The shaking subsided, and OreSeur fell still for a moment, breathing quietly. Finally, he pulled his head out of her arms. “What you meant is immaterial, Mistress,” he said flatly. “The mistake was mine. Please, never do that again.”
“I promise,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head, crawling off the bed. “You shouldn’t even have been able to do it. There are strange things about you, Mistress--you are like the Allomancers of old, before the passage of generations dulled their powers.”
(pg 379)

“Ah,” OreSeur said. “Well, I never did much like Terrismen, Mistress. Their self-important sense of subservience is very difficult to imitate--not to mention the fact that their muscles are far too stringy to taste good.”
Vin raised an eyebrow. “You’ve imitated Terrismen? I didn’t think there would be much cause for that--they weren’t a very influential people during the days of the Lord Ruler.”
“Ah,” OreSeur said. “But they were always around influential people.”
( pg 444)

“I killed him that day and took his place, wearing the body of a dog. You never saw him as a wolfhound.”
(447)

“Something broke. She was in two places at once. She could feel TenSoon standing by the wall, and she could feel her own body in Zane’s grip. TenSoon was hers, totally and completely. Somehow, not quite knowing how, she ordered him forward, c controlling his body.”
(451)

“He couldn’t see, she realized, His neck is broken.”

“I... would rather not wear the bones of that creature,” Ten Soon said. “You don’t know how broken he was, Mistress.”

“Mistress, my Contract is void, now that my master is dead. I... need to return to my people for reassignment.”

“Mistress,” TenSoon said. “You know our secret now. Mistborn can control a kandra’s body with Allomancy. I don’t know what you will do with it--but realize that I have entrusted you with a secret that my people have kept sacred for a thousand years. The way that Allomancers could take control of our bodies and make slaves of us.”
(454)

HERO OF AGES

“Tensoon’s day began in darkness. Part of that was due, of course, to the fact that he didn’t have any eyes. He could have created a set--he was of the Third Generation, which was old, even for a kandra. He had digested enough corpses that he had learned how to create sensory organs intuitively without a model to copy.
“Unfortunately, eyes would have done him little good. He didn’t have a skull, and he had found that most organs didn’t function well without a full body--and a skeleton--to support them. His own mass would crush eyes if he moved the wrong way, and it would be very difficult to turn them about to see.”

“His body was little more than a grouping of translucent muscles--like a mass of large snails or slugs, all connected, somewhat more malleable than the body of a mollusk. With concentration, he could dissolve one of the muscles and either meld it with another one, or make something new. Yet, without a skeleton to use, he was all but impotent.”

“His very skin had a sense of its own--a kind of taste. Right now, it tasted the stench of his own excrement on the sides of the chamber, but he didn’t dare turn off this sense. It was one of his only connections to the world around him.”
(pg 28)

“a kandra’s body was supple, but even a pile of muscles could be squeezed only so small.”

“He had no brain, not as humans did, but he was able to think. He didn’t understand this. He wasn’t certain if any kandra did. Perhaps those of the First Generation knew more--but if so, they didn’t enlighten everyone else.”

“He arranged himself, pushing his muscles to the sides of the pit, forming a depression in the middle of his body.”

“Hooks came next. They looped around his muscles, grabbing him and ripping his flesh as they pulled him out of the pit. It hurt. Not just the hooks, but the sudden freedom as his body was spilled across the floor of his prison. He unwillingly tasted dirt and dried slop. “
(pg 29)

“Then it came. He could taste it in the air. Acid, thick and pungent, presumably in a gold-lined bucket brought by the prison keepers. They were going to kill him after all.
But they can’t!i He thought. The First contract, the law of our people, it--
Something fell on him. Not acid, but something hard. He touched it eagerly, muscles moving against one another, tasting it, testing it, feeling it. It was round, with holes, and several sharp edges... a skull.
The acid stink grew sharper. Were they stirring it? TenSoon moved quickly, forming around the skull, filling it. He already had some dissolved flesh stored inside of an organ-like pouch. He brought this out, oozing it around the skull, quickly making skin. He left the eyes alone, working on lungs, forming a tongue, ignoring the lips for the moment. He worked with a sense of desperation as the taste of acid grew strong, and then . . .
It hit him. It seared the muscles on one side of his body, washing over his bulk, dissolving it. Apparently the Second Generation had given up on getting his secrets from him. However, before killing him, they knew they had to give him an opportunity to speak. The First Contract required it--hence the skull. However, the guards obviously had orders to kill him before he could actually say anything in his defense. They followed the form of the law, yet at the very same time the ignored its intent.
They didn’t realize, however, how quickly TenSoon could work. Kew kandra had spent as much time on Contracts as he had--all of the Second Generation, and most of the Third, had long ago retired from service. They led easy lives here in the homeland.
An easy life taught one very little.
Most kandra took hours to form a body--some younger ones needed days. In seconds, however, TenSoon had a rudimentary tongue. As the acid moved up his body, he forced out a trachea, inflated a lung, and croaked out a single word:”

“He worked through the pain, forming primitive hearing organs inside the skull cavity.”

“Accept death,” the voice hissed quietly. “Do not put yourself in a position to cause further harm to our people. The First Generation has granted you this chance to die because of your years of extra service!”
TenSoon paused. A trial would be public. So far, only a select few knew of the extent of his betrayal. He could die, cursed as a Contract-breaker but retaining some measure of respect for his prior career. Somewhere--likely in a pit in this very room--there were some who suffered endless captivity, a torture that would eventually break even the minds of those endowed with the Blessing of Presence.”
(pg 30)

“They gave him bones.
Ten Soon flowed around them, dissolving muscles, then re-forming them into organs, sinew, and skin. He built a body around the bones, using skills gained over centuries spent eating and digesting humans. Corpses only, of course--he had never killed a man. The Contract forbade such things.
After a year in his pit of a prison, he felt as if he had forgotten how to use a body. What was it like to touch the world with rigid digits, rather than a body that flowed against the confines of stone? What was it like to taste and smell with only tongue and nostrils, rather than with every bit of skin exposed to the air. What was it like to...
To see. He opened his eyes and gasped, drawing first breath into remade, full-sized lungs. “

“His body wasn’t that of any specific person--he would have needed a model to produce such a replica. Instead he had covered the bones with muscles and skin as best he could. He was old enough that he knew how to create a reasonable approximation of a human. The features wouldn’t be handsome; they might even be a little grotesque. That, however, was more than good enough for the moment. He felt... real again.”

“The cavern was lit only by a glowstone--a large, porous rock set atop a thick column base. The bluid fungus that grew on the rock made enough of a glow to see by-- especially if one had specifically grown eyes that were good at seeing in dim blue light.
(pg 64)

“He knew most kandra, at least up to the Sixth and Seventh Generations. This kandra’s name was VarSell. In the homeland, VarSell didn’t wear the bones of an animal or human, but instead used a True Body--a set of false bones, human-shaped, crafted by a kandra artisan. VarSell’s Tree Body was quartz, and he left his skin translucent, allowing the stone to sparkle faintly in the fungal light as he studied TenSoon.
I made my body opaque, TenSoon realized. Like that of a human, with tan skin to obscure the muscles beneath. Why had that come so naturally to him? Once, he had cursed the years he spent among the humans, using their bones instead of a True Body. Perhaps he had fallen to that same old default because his captors hadn’t given him a True Body. Human bones. An insult, of sorts.”

“The body that TenSoon had created around the bones must look convincing--as if it were the original one that these bones had belonged to. VarSell assumed that TenSoon had been able to create such a realistic approximation because he’d originally digested the human’s corpse, and therefore knew how to create the right body around the bones.”

“He was of the Fifth Generation--two centuries younger than TenSoon. Indeed, even among those of the Third Generation, few kandra had as much experience with the outside world as TenSoon.”

“Like VarSell, few of them wore clothing--and those who did wore only open-fronted robes. Kandra tended to wear little while in the homeland, as that allowed them to better display their True Bodies.
TenSoon saw two sparkling rods of metal embedded in the clear muscles of each Fifth’s shoulders--all three had the Blessing of Potency. The Second Generation was taking no risk of his escaping. It was, of course, another insult. TenSoon had come to his fate willingly.”

“TenSoon snorted. “The Second Generation is unpracticed. They assume that because it still takes them many hours to create a body, the rest of us require the same amount of time.”
“They are your elder generation,” VarSell said. “You should show them respect.:
“The Second Generation has been sequestered in these caves for centuries,” TenSoon said, “sending the rest of us to serve Contracts while they remain lazy. I passed them in skill long ago.”
(pg 66)

“VarSell restrained himself, barely-- to TenSoon’s amusement. After all, as a member of the Third Generation, TenSoon was senior to VarSell--much in the same way the Seconds were supposedly senior to TenSoon.
Yet, the Thirds were a special case. They always had been. That’s why the Seconds kept them out on Contracts so much--it wouldn’t do to have their immediate underlings around all the time, upsetting their perfect little kandra utopia.”

“Like VarSell, these three had True Bodies formed of stone. Those were popular among the Fifth Generation, who had time to commission--and use--lavish True Bodies. They were the favored pups of the Seconds, and tended to spend more time than most in the Homeland.
They had given TenSoon no clothing. So, as they walked, he dissolved his genitals, and re-formed a smooth crotch, as was common among the kandra. He tried to walk with pride and confidence, but he knew his body wouldn’t look very intimidating. It was emaciated--he’d lost much mass during his imprisonment and more to the acid, and he hadn’t been able to form very large muscles.
The smooth, rock tunnel had probably once been a natural formation, but over the centuries, the younger generations had been used during their infancy to smooth out the stone with their digestive juices. “

“I’ve been away so long, TenSoon thought. The Eleventh Generation must have been chosen by now. I still don’t know most of the Eighth, let alone the Ninth or Tenth.
He was beginning to suspect that there wouldn’t be a Twelfth Generation. Even if there were, things could not continue as they had. The Father was dead. What, then, of the First Contract? His people had spent ten centuries enslaved to humankind, serving the Contracts in an effort to keep themselves safe. Most of the kandra hated men for their situation. Up until recently, TenSoon had been one of those.
It’s ironic, TenSoon thought. But even when we wear True Bodies, we wear them in the form of humans. Two arms, two legs, even faces formed after the fashion of mankind.
Sometimes he wondered if the unbirthed--the creatures that the humans called mistwraiths--were more honest than their brothers the kandra. The mistwraiths would form a body however they wished, connecting bones in odd arrangements, making almost artistic designs from both human and animal bones. The kandra, though--they created bodies that looked human. Even while they cursed humankind for keeping them enslaved.”
(pg 66)

TenSoon had visited the Trustwarren before; he was of the Third Generation. He had been born seven centuries ago, when the kandra were still new--though by that time, the First Generation had already given over the raising of new kandra to the Second Generation.
The Seconds hadn’t done very well with TenSoon’s generation--or, at least, that was how the Seconds felt. They’d wanted to form a society of individuals whos followed strict rules or respect and seniority. A “perfect” people who lived to serve their Contracts--and, of course, the members of the Second Generation.
Up until his return, TenSoon had generally been considered one of the least troublesome of the Thirds. He’d been known as a kandra who cared little for Homeland politics; one who served out his Contracts, content to keep himself as far away from the Seconds and their machinations as possible. It was ironic indeed that TenSoon would end up on trial for the most heinous of kandra crimes.
(pg 76)

“They didn’t bind his hands; that would have been too much of an insult even for him. Kandra obeyed the Contract, even those of the Third Generation. He would not run, and he would not strike down one of his own. He was better than that.
The room was lit by lamps, rather than glowstone, though each lamp was enclosed in blue glass. Oil was difficult to get--the Second Generation, for good reason, didn’t want to rely on supplies from the world of men. The people above, even most of the Father’s servants, didn’t know there was a centralized kandra government. It was much better that way.
In the blue light, TenSoon could easily see the members of the Second Generation--all twenty of them, standing behind their lecterns, arranged in tiers on the far side of the room. They were close enough to see, study, and speak to--yet far enough away that TenSoon felt isolated, standing alone in the center of the platform.”

“TenSoon looked up. It was KanPaar, of course. He was a tall kandra--or, rather, he preferred to use a tall True Body. Like all of the Seconds, his bones were constructed of the purest crystal--his with a deep red tint. It was an impractical body in many ways. Those bones wouldn’t stand up to much punishment. Yet, for the life of an administrator in the Homeland, the weakness of the bones was apparently an acceptable trade-off for their sparkling beauty.”

“By staying away from humans for so long, his language hadn’t been corrupted by their dialects. The Seconds’ accents were similar to that of the Father, supposedly.”

“The First Generation watched from above. They sat in their individual alcoves running around the perimeter of the upper room, shadowed to the point where they were little more than humanoid lumps. They did not speak. That was for the Seconds.”

“Kandra of various sizes and ages. The very youngest ones wouldn’t be allowed to attend an event this important, but those of the adult generations--everyone up through the Ninth Generation--could not be denied. This was his victory, perhaps the only one he would have in the entire trial.”
(pg 77)

“There were hundreds of kandra now. The elder generations--Firsts, Seconds, Thirds--were small in number, since many had been killed in the early days, when the humans had feared them. However, later generations were well populated. The Tenth Generation had over a hundred individuals in it. The Trustwarren’s benches had been constructed to hold the entire kandra population, but they were now filled just by those who happened to be free from both duty and Contract.”

“He shouldn’t have recognized her. She had a new True Body--an eccentric one, with bones made of wood. They were thing and willowy in an exaggerated, unnatural way: her wooden skull long with a pointed triangular chin, her eyes too large, twisted bits of cloth sticking from her head like hair. The younger generations were pushing the boundaries of propriety, annoying the Seconds. Once, TenSoon would probably have agreed with them--even now, he was something of a traditionalist. Yet this day, her rebellious body simply made him smile.
That seemed to give her comfort, and she found a seat, near the front, with a group of other Seventh Generationers. They all had deformed True Bodies--one too much like a block, another actually sporting four arms.”

“You have obstinately demanded judgement before the First Generation. By the First Contract, we cannot condemn you without first allowing you the opportunity to plead before the Firsts. Should they see fit to stay your punishment, you will be freed. Otherwise, you must accept the fate the Council of Seconds assigns you.”

“After centuries of preaching that the Third Generation is filled with miscreants? They’ve tried all this time to overcome their mistakes with us--mistakes like giving us too much freedom, letting us think that we were as good as they were. By proving that I--the most “temperate” of the Thirds--am a danger, KanPaar will win a struggle he’s been fighting for most of his life.
Ten Soon had always found it strange how threatened the Seconds felt by the Thirds. It had taken them only one generation to understand their mistakes--the Fourths were nearly as loyal as the Fifths, with only a few deviant members.
And yet, with some of the younger generations--MeLaan and her friends providing an example--acting like they did... well, perhaps the Seconds had a right to feel threatened. And TenSoon was to be their sacrifice. Their way of restoring order and orthodoxy.”
(pg 78)

“The First Contract, oft spoken of by the kandra, was originally just a series of promises made by the First Generation to the Lord Ruler. They wrote these promises down, and in doing so codified the first kandra laws. They were worried about governing themselves, independently of the Lord Ruler and his empire, so they took what they had written to him, asking for his approval.
He commanded it cast into steel, then personally scratched a signature into the bottom. This code was the first thing that a kandra learned upon awakening from his or her life as a mistwraith. It contained commands to revere earlier generations, simple legal rights granted to each kandra, provisions for creating new kandra, and a demand for ultimate dedication to the Lord Ruler.
Most disturbingly, the First Contract contained a provision which, if invoked, would require the mass suicide of the entire kandra people.”

“Yes I killed a kandra,” TenSoon said, standing cold and naked on the platform. “That is not forbidden.”
“Need it be forbidden?” KanPaar accused, pointing. “Humans kill each other. Koloss kill each other. But they are both of Ruin. We are of Preservation, the chosen of the Father himself. We don’t kill one another!”
(pg 87)

“My betrayal of all our people is surely a greater sin than the murder of one.
“I was compelled by my Contract,” TenSoon said frankly. “You must know KanPaar. You’re the one who assigned me to the man Straff Venture. We all know what kind of person he was.”
“No different from any other man,” spat one of the Seconds.
Once, TenSoon would have agreed. Yet, he knew that there were some humans, at least, who were different. He had betrayed Vin, and yet she hadn’t hated him for it. She had understood, and had felt mercy. Even if they hadn’t already become friends, even if he hadn’t grown to respect her greatly, that one moment would have earned her his devoted loyalty.”

“I was assigned to the man Straff Venture by paid Contract,” TenSoon said. “He gave me over to the whims of his twisted son, Zane. It was Zane who commanded that I kill the kandra OreSeur and take his place so I could spy on the woman Vin.”

"And so you did what this Zane commanded?" KanPaar asked loudly. "You killed another kandra. You murdered a member of your own generation!"
"You think I enjoyed it?" TenSoon demanded. "OreSeur was my generation brother—a kandra I had known for seven hundred years! But . . . the Contract . . ."
"Forbids killing," KanPaar said.
"It forbids the killing of men."
"And is not a kandra life worth more than that of a man?"
"The words are specific, KanPaar," TenSoon snapped. "I know them well—I helped write them! We were both there when these service Contracts were created using the First Contract itself as a model! They forbid us from killing humans, but not each other."

"I do not argue with my masters," TenSoon said. "And I certainly didn't want to tell the man Zane how to kill a kandra. His instability was well known."
"So, you didn't argue," KanPaar said. "You simply killed OreSeur. And then you took his place, pretending to be him."
"That is what we do," TenSoon said with frustration. "We take the place of others, acting as spies. That is the entire point of the Contract!"
"We do these things to humans," snapped another Second. "This is the first case where a kandra has been used to imitate another kandra. It is a disturbing precedent you set."
It was brilliant, TenSoon thought. I hate Zane for making me do it, but I can still see the genius in it. Vin never even suspected me. Who would?
(pg 88)

"You should have refused to do this act," KanPaar said. "You should have pled the need for clarification of your Contract. If others were to begin using us in this way, to kill one another, then we could be wiped out in a matter of years!"
"You betrayed us all with your rashness," said another.
Ah, TenSoon thought. So that is their plan. They establish me as a traitor first, so that what I say later lacks credibility. He smiled. He was of the Third Generation; it was time he started acting like it.”

“How were we to know this man would succeed when others hadn’t” a Second sputtered. “He paid so well that--”
KanPaar cut the other off with a sharp wave of the hand. It wasn’t good for those of the Second Generation to defend themselves. However, HunFoor--the kandra who had spoken--hadn’t ever really fit in with the others of his generation. He was a little more... dense.”
(pg 89)

“I told her our Secret. At the end, she used me. Like the Allomancers of old. She took control of my body, using the Flaw, and she made me fight Zane!”
(pg 90)

“We cannot create new Blessings, or new kandra, on our own!”

“He hadn’t spoken with a member of the First Generation for centuries--they limited their communications strictly to the Seconds.”
(pg 91)


“The cage’s very existence was an insult. Kandra were not like men--even if he were not imprisoned, TenSoon would not have run or tried to escape. He had come willingly to his fate.
And yet, they locked him up. He wasn’t certain where they had gotten the cage--it certainly wasn’t something kandra normally would need. Still, the Seconds had found it and erected it in one of the main caverns of the Homeland.”

“They put him on display, like some human in the stocks. In all the history of the kandra people, no other had ever been treated in such a way. His name would be a byword of shame for centuries.”
(pg 145)

“Some trained the members of the newer generations—he could see Elevenths moving along, little more than blobs with some glistening bones. The transformation from mistwraith to kandra was a difficult one. Once given a Blessing, the mistwraith would lose most of its instincts as it gained sentience, and would have to relearn how to form muscles and bodies. It was a process that took many, many years.

Other adult kandra went about food preparation. They would stew a mixture of algae and fungi inside stone pits, not unlike the one in which TenSoon would spend eternity. Despite his former hatred of mankind, TenSoon had always found the opportunity to enjoy outside food—particularly aged meat—a very tempting consolation for going out on a Contract.”

“The Fourths and Fifths came to spit at the ground before him, showing their devotion to the Seconds. The Sixths and the Sevenths—who made up the bulk of the Contract fillers—came to pity him and shake their heads for a friend fallen. The Eighths and Ninths came out of curiosity, amazed that one so aged could have fallen so far.”

“They shouldn’t be able to do this to you,” she said, and he could hear the anger in her voice. “You’re nearly as old as they, and far more wise.”
“They are the Second Generation,” TenSoon said. “They are chosen by those of the First. They lead us.”
(pg 146)

“They should never have given children of a new generation to be raised by a Third. There are many of us, the younger ones, who would fight. The Seconds can’t rule forever. What can we do, TenSoon? How can we help you?”

“Those of the Second Generation were not fools. They might be lazy, but they were old and crafty--TenSoon understood this, for he knew each of them quite well. They would have kandra listening, waiting to see what was said at his cage. The kandra of the Fourth or Fifth Generation who had the Blessing of Awareness could stand a distance away, and still hear every word being spoken at his cage.”

“OreSeur. He had the Blessing of Potency. You must have inherited it, when you killed him. Yet, they didn’t find it on your body when they took you. So, what did you do with it? Can I fetch it for you? Bring it, so that you can fight?”
(pg 147)

“Up until recently, I was the most orthodox of my generation, a conservative distinguished only by his hatred of humans.”
(pg 149)

“In those days, an Allomancer didn’t need duralumin to take control of a kandra or koloss. A simple Push or Pull on the emotions was enough. In fact, this ability was one of the main reasons that the kandra devised their Contracts with the humans--for, at that time, not only Mistborn, but Soothers and Rioters could take control of them at the merest of whims.”
(pg 150)

“Even with the Blessing of Presence--which let TenSoon focus despite his uncomfortable confines--he could think of no way to escape the meshed cage and its Fifth Generation guards, who all bore the Blessing of Potency.”

“It would take quite a severe beating to break his bones, and with the Blessing of Presence, there would be no release of unconsciousness for him.”
(166)

“In a thousand years of history, the kandra had never had a criminal such as TenSoon.”
(234)

“The First Generation never spoke in the presence of lessers.”
(235)

“he’d seen them, and talked with them, before they’d grown too superior to deal with anyone but the Seconds.”

“You have been sentenced to the ritual imprisonment of ChanGaar! You will be beaten to the point of fracture, then bricked into a pit, with only one hole for your daily slop. You will remain there for ten generations! Only after that will you be executed by starvation.”

“Nobody had been eating and emulating bodies as long as he had, and he knew how to pack muscles into a body.”

“On top of that, a body mass that had translated from a scrawny human made quite a substantial wolfhound. This, combined with his skill in crafting bodies, meant that when TenSoon jumped, he jumped.”

“Instead he sprang directly toward KanPaar . The foremost of the Seconds cried out, throwing up ineffectual hands as a hundred pounds of wolfhound crashed into him, throwing him to the stone floor. TenSoon heard sharp cracks as KanPaar’s delicate bones shattered and KanPaar screamed in a very un-kandra-like way.”
(pg 236)

“However, a Hemalurgic spike can also be created by killing a normal person, one who is neither an Allomancer nor a Feruchemist. In that case, the spike instead steals the very power of Preservation existing within the soul of the people. (The power that, in fact, gives all people sentience.)
A Hemalurgic spike can extract this power, then transfer it to another, granting them residual abilities similar to those of Allomancy. After all, Preservation's body—a tiny trace of which is carried by every human being—is the very same essence that fuels Allomancy.
And so, a kandra granted the Blessing of Potency is actually acquiring a bit of innate strength similar to that of burning pewter. The Blessing of Presence grants mental capacity in a similar way, while the Blessing of Awareness is the ability to sense with greater acuity and the rarely used Blessing of Stability grants emotional fortitude.”
(pg 266)

“Yet, TenSoon had lived for hundreds of years, and a part of him understood the tired complacency of the First and Second Generations. At times he'd felt the same thing himself. A desire to simply wait. To spend years idly, content in the Homeland. He'd seen the outside world—seen more of it than any human or koloss would ever know. What need had he of experiencing more?
The Seconds had seen him as more orthodox and obedient than his brethren, all because he had continually wanted to leave the Homeland and serve Contracts. The Second Generation had always misunderstood him. TenSoon hadn't served out of a desire to be obedient. He'd done it out of fear: fear that he'd become content and apathetic like the Seconds and begin to think that the outside world didn't matter to the kandra people.”
(pg 272)

“The wolfhound's body felt good on him. There was such a power in it—a capacity for movement—that no human form could match. It was almost as if this were the form he always should have worn. What better body for a kandra with an incurable wanderlust? A kandra who had left his Homeland behind more often than any other, serving under the hated hands of human masters, all because of his fear of complacency?”

“TenSoon hadn't been alive back then. However, he had known the First Generation and been raised by the Second. He grew up during days when the First Contract—the Trust, the Resolution—had been more than just words. The First Contract was a set of instructions. Actions to take when the world began to fall. Not just ceremony, and not just metaphor. He knew that its contents frightened some of the kandra. For them, it was better that the First Contract be a philosophical, abstract thing—for if it were still concrete, still relevant, it would require great sacrifices of them.”

“He remembered it, despite how the ash had transformed the landscape. The Blessing of Presence, serving him again. How would he get along without it?
I would not be sentient without it, he thought, smiling grimly. It was the bestowing of a Blessing on a mistwraith that brought the creature to wakefulness and true life. Each kandra got one of the four: Presence, Potency, Stability, or Awareness. It didn't matter which one a kandra gained; any of the four would give him or her sentience, changing the mistwraith into a fully conscious kandra.
In addition to sentience, each Blessing gave something else. A power. But there were stories of kandra who had gained more than one by taking them from others.”

“Two small, polished iron spikes. It took two spikes to form a single Blessing. TenSoon didn't know why this was. It was simply the way of things.
TenSoon lay down, commanding the skin of his shoulder to part, and absorbed the spikes into his body. He moved them through muscles and ligaments—dissolving several organs, then re-forming them with the spikes piercing them.”
(pg 273)

“Immediately, he felt power wash through him. His body became stronger. It was more than the simple adding of muscles—he could do that by re-forming his body. No, this gave each muscle an extra innate strength, making them work much better, much more powerfully, than they would have otherwise.
The Blessing of Potency. He'd stolen the two spikes from OreSeur's body. Without this Blessing, TenSoon would never have been able to follow Vin as he had during their year together. It more than doubled the power and endurance of each muscle. He couldn't regulate or change the level of that added strength—this was not Feruchemy or Allomancy, but something different. Hemalurgy.
A person had died to create each spike. TenSoon tried not to think about that too much; just as he tried not to think about how he only had this Blessing because he had killed one of his own generation. The Lord Ruler had provided the spikes each century, giving the number requested, so that the kandra could craft a new generation.
He now had four spikes, two Blessings, and was one of the most powerful kandra alive. His muscles strengthened, TenSoon jumped confidently from the top of the rock formation, falling some twenty feet to land safely on the ash-covered ground below. He took off, running far more quickly now. The Blessing of Potency resembled the power of an Allomancer burning pewter, but it was not the same. It would not keep TenSoon moving indefinitely, nor could he flare it for an extra burst of power. On the other hand, it required no metals to fuel it.”
(pg 274)

“One might think that kandra are changed most of all. However, one must remember that new kandra are made from mistwraiths, and not humans. The spikes worn by the kandra cause only a small transformation in their hosts—leaving their bodies mostly like that of a mistwraith, but allowing their minds to begin working. Ironically, while the spikes dehumanize the koloss, they give a measure of humanity to the kandra.”
(pg 283)

“TenSoon, a kandra, was outside of the Homeland without a Contract. As far as he knew, he was the first of his people to do such a thing in seven hundred years.”
(pg 414)

“He knew, for instance, that Sazed was dangerous. The Terrisman was a Keeper--a group that TenSoon and his brethren had been trained to avoid.”
(pg 416)

"They live on?" Sazed asked, stepping forward. "The Lord Ruler's companions? The very Terrismen who climbed to the Well with him?"
"We call them the First Generation," TenSoon said. "The founders of the kandra people. The Father transformed every living Feruchemist into a mistwraith, beginning that race. His good friends, however, he returned to sentience with a few Hemalurgic spikes. You've done your work poorly, Keeper. I expected that you'd drag this out of me long before I had to leave."
(pg 434)

“"My people are created from mistwraiths," TenSoon explained, not even sounding winded. "The Lord Ruler turned the Feruchemists into mistwraiths, and they began to breed true as a species. You add a Blessing to a mistwraith, and they become awakened, turning into a kandra. One such as I, created centuries after the Ascension, was born as a mistwraith but became awakened when I received my Blessing."
". . . Blessing?" Sazed asked.
"Two small metal spikes, Keeper," TenSoon said. "We are created like Inquisitors, or like koloss. However, we are more subtle creations than either of those. We were made third and last, as the Lord Ruler's power waned."
Sazed frowned, leaning low as the horse ran beneath some skeletal tree branches.
"What is different about you?"
"We have more independence of will than the other two," TenSoon said. "We only have two spikes in us, while the others have more. An Allomancer can still take control of us, but free we remain more independent of mind than koloss or Inquisitors, who are both affected by Ruin's impulses even when he isn't directly controlling them. Did you never wonder why both of them are driven so powerfully to kill?"
(pg 457)

“When the Lord Ruler offered his plan to his Feruchemist friends—the plan to change them into mistwraiths—he was making them speak on behalf of all the land's Feruchemists. Though he changed his friends into kandra to restore their minds and memories, the rest he left as nonsentient mistwraiths. These bred more of their kind, living and dying, becoming a race unto themselves. From these children of the original mistwraiths, he made the next generations of kandra.
However, even gods can make mistakes, I have learned. Rashek, the Lord Ruler, thought to transform all of the living Feruchemists into mistwraiths. However, he did not think of the genetic heritage left in the other Terris people, whom he left alive. So it was that Feruchemists continued being born, if only rarely.”
(pg 464)

“Sazed noticed shards of metal twinkling in the kandra's shoulders. They appeared to be spikes, one in each shoulder.
Smaller than Inquisitor spikes, Sazed thought. But still very effective. Interesting.”
(pg 465)

“Sazed heard a scraping sound. It echoed through the steel-lined chamber, and then a door opened at the back of the room. From this came what he assumed was the First Generation. They looked . . . old. Their kandra flesh literally hung from their bodies, drooping, like translucent tree moss dripping from bone branches. They were stooped, seeming older than the other kandra he had seen, and they didn't walk so much as shuffle.
They wore simple robes, with no sleeves, but the garments still looked odd on the creatures. In addition, beneath their translucent skin, he could see that they had white, normal skeletons. "Human bones?" Sazed asked as the elderly creatures made their way forward, walking with canes.
"Our own bones," one of them said, speaking with a tired near-whisper of a voice. "We hadn't the skill or knowledge to form True Bodies when this all began, and so took our original bones again when the Lord Ruler gave them to us."
(pg 468)

“Haddek nodded. "We were to gather it. The First Contract, the Lord Ruler named it—our charge in this world."
"The other Children had a purpose," another kandra added. "The koloss, they were created to fight. The Inquisitors, they were created to be priests. Our task was different."
"Gather the power," Haddek said. "And protect it. Hide it. Keep it. For the Father knew Ruin would escape one day. And on that day, he would begin searching for his body."
The group of aged kandra looked past Sazed. He frowned, turning to follow their eyes. They were looking toward the metal dais.”
(pg 481)

“"Most of that atium never left the Pits of Hathsin," Haddek said. "There were obligators on staff at all times—but never Inquisitors, for the Father knew that they could be corrupted. The obligators broke the geodes in secret, inside of a metal room constructed for the purpose, then took out the atium. The noble family then transported the empty geodes to Luthadel, never knowing that they didn't have any atium in their possession at all. What atium the Lord Ruler did get, and distribute, to the nobility was brought in by the obligators. They disguised the atium as Ministry funds and hid the beads in piles of coins so that Ruin wouldn't see them as they were transported in convoys full of new acolytes to Luthadel.”
(pg 482)

“The kandra elders had given him a place to stay, and it was surprisingly lush for a cave. Kandra apparently enjoyed human comforts—blankets, cushions, mattresses. Some even preferred to wear clothing, though those who didn't declined to create genitals for their True Bodies. That left him wondering about scholarly sorts of questions. They reproduced by transforming mistwraiths into kandra, so genitals would be redundant. Yet, the kandra identified themselves by gender—each was definitely a "he" or a "she." So, how did they know? Did they choose arbitrarily, or did they actually know what they would have been, had they been born human rather than as a mistwraith?”
(pg 502)

“As far as he knew, he was the only human other than the Lord Ruler to have ever read its words. The members of the First Generation treated the metal bearing the contract with noticeably less reverence than the other kandra. That had surprised him.”
(pg 504)

“Of course, Sazed thought, turning a corner, it does make some kind of sense. To the members of the First Generation, the Lord Ruler was a friend. They remember climbing that mountain with him—their leader, yes, but not a god. Kind of like the members of the crew, who had trouble seeing Kelsier in a religious light.”
(pg 505)

"We have been listening to our children discuss it all morning," another said. "And it troubles us. They do not know all the mists represent, but they are aware of their importance."
(pg 507)

“Either relinquish those bones, or I’ll digest your body and kill you, as I did OreSeur.”
(pg 522)

“Mistwraiths. The cousins of the kandra, the scavengers that hunted at night and fed on corpses. They moved about Sazed, masses of muscle, flesh, and bone—but with those bones combined in strange, unnatural ways. Feet hanging off at angles, heads connected to arms. Ribs used like legs.
Except, these bones were not actually bone at all, but stone, metal, or wood. Sazed stood up solemnly as he looked over the remnants of the kandra people. Littered across the floor, among the jumbled mass of mistwraiths—who oozed about like giant, translucent slugs—were discarded spikes. Kandra Blessings. The things that had brought them sentience.”
(pg 530)

NAMES IN BOOKS:

HunFoor
FhorKood
KanPaar
VarSell
TarKavv
MeLaan
OreSeur
TenSoon
Paalm (Shadows of Self)

[Comatose]

From the Adventure Game
[REMEMBER: The MAG is not necessarily Canon, though the "From Brandon" sections can be treated as such. These quotations should be used as guides only, or to clarify existing knowledge, not held to like the confirmed canon tidbits. ]

KANDRA
Poorly understood and often feared (even by those few who know they exist),
the kandra are a race of sentient shapeshifters serving the nobility as spies and
infiltrators.
In their natural states, kandra resemble shifting blobs of translucent
muscle, but they can slowly ingest the flesh of a corpse, keeping its bones, and
then assume its form before death. This process is near-perfect, save that kandra
can’t grow hair, teeth, or nails, nor adequately mimic behavior
without taking time to study the target in life. This keeps the kandra from stealing the shapes of
just anyone they want, and also means they tend to live very lonely lives.
Kandra regularly draw contracts with nobles and others, serving in various
capacities though most often in ways that make use of their shapeshifting abilities.
Adherence to contract specifics is culturally paramount to all kandra, even when it
brings resentment and shame; indeed, breaching a contract is considered treasonous
with a punishment of exile or death.
(pg 26)

Arguably the most notorious are the mistwraiths, enormous amalgams of
dead creatures remade as the stuff of nightmares, which travel in the nightly
mists and seemingly murder indiscriminately. Rural citizens believe mistwraiths
consume and impersonate humans they encounter, and so they avoid traveling or
even leaving their homes after dark. The Outer Dominances report even larger and
more aggressive mistwraiths that display both a bestial cunning and an insatiable
hunger for the flesh of the living.
(pg 31)

Kandra
Kandra have one name with a distinct structure, similar to the Terris from
whom they descended: multiple syllables, with the second capitalized and containing
two vowels. Though kandra technically have genders, both sexes use the
same naming pattern.
AbDaal BenSween CorDen DenPaen
EmNal FalHoor GolSeel HalDaur
InRel JeHoy KanPaar KapEra
LanRoon MeLaan NorVen OleSoon
OreSeur PerSere RaiKel SenKael
TelZaan TenSoon YaLod ZeKeer
(pg 105)


(pg 118)


(pg 162)

CHILDREN OF THE
CONTRACT
The kandra are one of the greatest mysteries on Scadrial. Their past, nature, motives, and even their very existence are unknown to all but a select few outside their society. Yet they walk amongst humans in stolen forms, serving their mysterious Contract and waiting for the day when maybe... just maybe... they cansave the world.

Unlike other character types, these shapeshifters live a life of secrecy and service, not just to their Crew but to their entire species. They guard secrets so powerful, so important, that only strict adherence to a special code of conduct and a life of slavery to wealthy clients can protect them. Despite their Mimicry and Hemalurgic Blessings they know that at any time their true nature might be identified by an Allomancer, leaving them a virtual puppet at his or her whim.

PHYSIOLOGY AND FORMS
In its natural state a kandra is a translucent, shifting pile of muscles that moves by rolling or shuffling along the ground. It has no distinct organs but it can taste, see, and hear through its skin. Kandra only take this form while in the Homeland or shifting between different Mimicked forms.
(pg 253)

The second and most commonly encountered form a kandra takes is that of another living being, typically a human. These forms are actually carefully crafted disguises, made from both the kandra’s flesh and select parts of the subject, namely bones and hair. A mimicked form can be maintained for days, months, or even years. Most kandra also take a rarely-seen third shape: a roughly humanoid form called a True Body, which they use in the Homeland in company of their peers.
True Bodies are built around custom bones as a sort of fashion statement or affirmation of status. Different generations of kandra favor different styles of True Body — some use wood or animal bones, while more influential generations use crystal or glass.

FROM BRANDON
Kandra Mimicry is fairly limited when compared to shapeshifting in other
media, but I’ve always believed that strong limitations make for strong characters. The principle limitation here is that while a kandra must ingest a body (and use its bones) to take its form, the Contract strictly forbids kandra from doing the killing themselves. Thus every kandra must find a workaround — be it pairing up with others who handle the dirty work, or through other means — and it’s in these creative decisions and solutions that the inner character of each kandra really comes to light. Remember also that kandra aren’t limited to Mimicking humans, and that a skilled kandra can keep and use the bones of many different people and animals.

THE CONTRACT
Nearly all human / kandra interactions center on the First Contract, a quasi-religious pact that all kandra are trained to follow with unyielding devotion. Among other things the First Contract binds kandra to the Homeland unless they’re under individual Contract. The kandra view these lesser Contracts with no less solemnity, as they are considered a subset of the First Contract, which was made with the Lord Ruler, the source of their very existence and “Father” to their race.
An individual Contract binds a kandra to a single patron — often a government or noble house — and most Contracted kandra are used as spies and informers. The First Contract specifically forbids kandra from killing humans, which is good for humanity (since kandra could otherwise make for ideal assassins), but it also leaves them vulnerable to abuse by their masters, and so many endure beatings
and torture. Kandra tolerate this treatment for the good of their people, though many come to resent it, privately reviling their masters.
(pg 254)

Breaking a Contract is a capital offense in kandra society and few of them can imagine a life without the many strictures, expectations, and regulations placed upon them. Fortunately, kandra Heroes are among those exceptional few.

though particularly willful or dedicated kandra can break Contract to join of their own free will. Some orthodox kandra blame this behavior on specific generations (the Third and Fifth are popular targets), but in truth each kandra striking out on its own does so for a good
reason and must be willing to risk everything to do so.

A Contracted kandra may never kill a human, while a rogue is prohibited from returning to the Homeland (and thus, rejoining its people or ever taking another Contract).. Naturally, circumstances can change during the course of the story, but once a kandra goes rogue there’s little hope of anything more than a swift death should the Hero try to return to its people
— or be discovered by other kandra working in the field.

FROM BRANDON
This should be a tough choice either way. On the one hand is a life where the character cannot kill, while on the other is a life of looking over one’s shoulder, always worried that anyone might secretly be a kandra, discover the character’s secret, and seek to end its existence.
TenSoon doesn’t know of any kandra leaving the Homeland without Contracts but they do exist (he understood very little of the First Generation’s workings during his many years absent from Contracts). When a kandra goes rogue, the First Generation sends a special group of assassins from the Homeland to find and either capture or destroy it. Inquisitors are also aware of Contract Breakers and keep an eye out for them, going to almost any lengths to control or destroy any they find.
Even with all this opposition, however, some rogues manage to keep their true natures hidden, which makes it a valid play option. Personally, I think the more interesting path is sticking with the Contract.

No matter which type of kandra is played, it’s extremely helpful to be familiar with the novels (specifically TenSoon’s parts of The Hero of Ages: Chapters 2,7, 9, 11, 20, 24, and 33).
(pg 255)

MIMICRY
Kandra shapeshifting is a gift and a curse: a gift because it helps them pursue the Contract and remain hidden from Allomancers who may threaten their grand designs; and a curse because it makes them the boogiemen of the Final Empire, terrifying creatures believed to hunt and eat humans for fun or to further the nefarious ends of their people. However, a kandra’s abilities are not so cut and dry.
To mimic a subject, most kandra first spend time observing the target’s
speech patterns, mannerisms, and the way he or she moves. Only when a kandra has practiced and feels sure it can affect these characteristics does it go after the
fundamental structural parts of the person or animal it wishes to replicate: namely the bones. Because the Contract prohibits the murder of humans, the kandra must
often rely on its master or an ally to kill the subject and provide its parts for consumption.
Replication is a process most humans find vile and shocking: the kandra absorbs the subject’s body, digesting the corpse over many hours and saving its bones and other parts (like hair and fingernails) for its disguise. Some particularly skilled kandra can replicate only parts of a form, such as a hand or eye, or even create enhanced or chimerical versions of the mimicked body with abilities unavailable to the original person or creature. The final product looks nearly identical to a casual observer but features critical limitations. A kandra can’t naturally grow hair, fingernails, or claws, for example, which makes copying humans and animals quite difficult. Even more importantly, replication doesn’t transfer memories or magical abilities; in fact, only physical features are claimed, which means kandra must rely on observation and guile to maintain the façade.


To mimic a target, a kandra must have the body or the bones, plus a private place to do its business (the process requires absolute concentration). The smallest a target may be is about the size of a small child (50 lbs. or so), and the largest is roughly the size of a large horse (1,000 lbs.).

the new form has no hair unless the kandra keeps it through the process
(pg 246)

Body Pocket: You may create holes within your body to conceal up to
one pound of small items, such as vials of metal flakes or small weapons. Each concealed item must be no larger than 6 inches in length. Items hidden in your body cannot be Steelpushed or Ironpulled, and are impossible to detect.

Chimera: When you take a Mimicked form you may grant it one feature
of another form you’ve taken in the past (e.g. granting a dog form the ability to speak).


(pg 258)

Durable Form: You may shift your organs or increase your muscle density to reduce bodily damage.

Partial Transformation: You may form a temporary organ, such as a human face or hand, while in your natural state.

Regeneration: You may quickly close wounds on your body. So long as
you’re not incapacitated

BLESSINGS
Every kandra is “born” when it receives a Blessing — a pair of specially designed Hemalurgic spikes that awaken a mistwraith to sentience and grant it innate abilities. A kandra’s Blessing is its single most important possession, for if it were to be lost the kandra would revert back to a mindless mistwraith in a matter of hours. Consequently, each kandra keeps its Blessing buried deep in its body, revealing its spikes only when taking its natural shape or True Body.

In addition to consciousness a Blessing confers enhanced abilities in manner unlike most Hemalurgy. Only kandra can benefit from a Blessing and there are four of them, each with different benefits:

Blessing of Awareness: A pair of Tin spikes grants the Blessing of enhancedsenses.

Blessing of Potency: A pair of Steel spikes grants the Blessing of enhanced strength and speed.

Blessing of Presence: A pair of Copper spikes grants the Blessing of enhanced intelligence and memory.

Blessing of Stability: A pair of Zinc spikes grants the rarest of Blessings: enhanced emotional stability... ...Additionally, it’s much more resistant to control...
(pg 259)

MULTIPLE BLESSINGS
A kandra can have multiple Blessings, though receiving the same Blessing twice has no effect (so a kandra with the Blessings of Awareness and Presence gains both sets of benefits, but one with two Blessings of Presence benefits only once).

Claiming another Blessing is quite difficult; there’s just one pair for every kandra created, so the only way to acquire one is by stealing it from a living kandra or taking it from a dead one. Both methods are viewed as the worst possible crimes within kandra society, and those even accused become outcasts at best; most are stripped of their Blessings and devolve back to mistwraiths.

CONTROL BY ALLOMANCY AND RUIN
Though Blessings grant many benefits, they also have a serious downside:
Allomancers with sufficient power may use Brass (Soothing) to seize control of a kandra’s body like a puppet. This is one of the most closely guarded secrets of the kandra people, for if it were to fall into the wrong hands the species might lose all hope of retaining free will.
(pg 260)

KANDRA
Kandra are mistwraiths enhanced by a pair of metal spikes collectively called a “Blessing.” This raises the mistwraith from its mindless existence and also grants new abilities: improved senses from the Blessing of Awareness, enhanced strength and speed from the Blessing of Potency, augmented intelligence and memory from the Blessing of Presence, or enhanced emotional stability from the Blessing of Stability.
Unlike koloss, the kandra breed true and have a complex society, hidden far from human eyes. Most interaction with humans is arranged through a Contract, and paid for in precious atium. Kandra are also vulnerable to control via emotional Allomancy, and go to great lengths to hide this fact from humans. Kandra hold the Lord Ruler in very high regard, referring to him as “The Father,” though very few speak of their relationship to him
(pg 284).

CONTROLLING KOLOSS & KANDRA
Allomantic control of koloss and kandra was once common knowledge,
during the early days of the Empire... so common, in fact, that the Lord Ruler hid his koloss armies and the kandra sought protection through the First Contract.
After a thousand years of suppression, however, only the Lord Ruler and his Steel Inquisitors are privy to the information. Occasionally a sufficiently strong Allomancer or particularly inquisitive scholar stumbles across the vulnerability, but any who exploit it quickly find themselves at the bad end of an obsidian axe or Hemalurgic spike.
Thus far, only koloss and kandra have exhibited this vulnerability. While
Steel Inquisitors and others with spikes find themselves more vulnerable to Rioting and Soothing, their will can’t be overridden, even with the strongest of Allomantic Powers.
Seizing control of a koloss or kandra’s body involves flushing all emotions from the creature, beating its will into submission until it becomes as an automaton under the attacker’s control. This requires a Brass rating of 8 or higher, or the use of an enhancement metal like Duralumin or Nicrosil. Multiple characters may coordinate to seize control,

Remember, however, that control of the creature’s body does not mean control of its consciousness — it’s aware of everything it’s commanded to do and will doubtless address any abuses when and if it regains control at a later time. Another Allomancer can wrest away control of a dominated creature by winning a Contest of Brass vs. Brass. With success, they gain control of the creature for the duration set by your original Conflict victory.
(pg 334)

THE KANDRA
Very few beyond the Lord Ruler know anything about the kandra. Skaa parents tell wild stories about the shapeshifters to scare naughty children. Nobles view them like any other asset, caring little for the why or how of them. None know the whole truth — and that’s exactly how the kandra like it. The truth about the Contract, the kandra’s connection to the mistwraiths and the Lord Ruler, their Hemalurgic origins, the location of their Homeland, their religion, their society, and their vulnerability to emotional Allomancy are all Secrets nearly every kandra would die to protect — before and after the trilogy. Even learning how to hire a kandra spy is a circuitous process with multiple middlemen, and a Secret in and of itself.
(pg 463)

ORESEUR
Time Frame: Midway through The Well of Ascension
OreSeur is a complex kandra, faithful to his contracts but willing to serve
masters with devious intent — most notably, one named Kelsier. OreSeur came
out of retirement to serve Kelsier: first as Lord Renoux to help overthrow the Lord
Ruler, and later impersonating Kelsier to help establish the Church of the Survivor.
No one on Kelsier’s crew knew the scheme as well as OreSeur. The kandra
was the only one the Survivor could trust with such discretion.
Since Kelsier’s death, OreSeur’s contract has transferred to Vin. She doesn’t
particularly want the kandra’s services, and their relationship is strained. Vin
knows OreSeur is a faithful servant, but she sees him as a constant reminder of
Kelsier, and the secrets he kept from her.
Like every contracted kandra, OreSeur follows his masters’ orders to the letter.
He’s only willing to betray a master in the most extreme cases — when the
First Contract would be violated, for example. Even with the Lord Ruler gone, the
Contract must remain inviolate.
(pg 511)

TENSOON
Time Frame: Early in The Hero of Ages
TenSoon is a rare breed — a rebellious kandra. Once upon a time he was contracted
to House Venture, and prided himself on serving faithfully and dutifully.
He was one of the most talented kandra shapeshifters alive, respected both for
his wisdom and his cunning. Then he betrayed the First Contract, and everything
changed.
(pg 512)

It was Zane Venture who ordered TenSoon to kill OreSeur, his kandra generation
brother, and take his place at Vin’s side as a spy. Vin put TenSoon in the body of a dog,
which insulted him at first, but he eventually came to trust and respect her. Soon, he
found himself telling Vin many of the kandra’s secrets, including one of the greatest —
that Allomancers can control them. This knowledge helped her defeat Zane, and by then
TenSoon’s perspective had changed: Vin had to survive, no matter the consequences.
TenSoon believes that with the Lord Ruler dead, Vin should inherit his role
— she is the Mother now, since she killed the Father, and the obligations of the
First Contract pass on to her. Needless to say, this radical position hasn’t won Ten-
Soon any friends among his people, and the most conservative Second and Fifth
Generation kandra would see him destroyed for treason. TenSoon chooses exile
instead, hoping his people will see the truth before it’s too late.
TenSoon believes the kandra can save the world. They’ve lived longer and
know more about the dawn of the Empire than the humans or even the Terrismen.
Now, as the world falls apart, isn’t it the kandra’s responsibility to step in and do
something? Otherwise, why follow the First Contract at all?
(pg 513)

PLAYING TENSOON
The kandra elders never leave the safety of the Homeland. They don’t understand
what’s happening to the world. The time of the Resolution may be at hand.
The kandra must do something.
The Second Generation want to prove you a renegade — to prove what they
think about the Third Generation. They don’t believe that Vin is the Mother, and
they don’t truly care about the First Contract.
You’re hard to kill. Bones may break and flesh may tear, but you can always
find more. The dog bones make you faster. Other kandra consider the body demeaning,
but you’ve learned its uses. With the Blessing of Potency, taken from
OreSeur’s body, you’re even stronger and faster. They’re all wrong.
The Blessing of Presence you’ve always had keeps you focused, and separates
you from the ones in the mist. The kandra must all learn the responsibility
of this gift, as you have.
(pg 514)

MISTWRAITHS AND KANDRA
These shapeshifters are widely misunderstood and feared by humans, both
for their alien appearance and strange, mystical cultures.
CONTRACTED KANDRA
The servant unbuttons his jacket and straightens his hair, glancing over his
shoulder anxiously. As he approaches the door, he opens his shirt and slides his
hand deep into his flesh, producing a skeleton key he slides into the lock. The door
unlatches and he quickly slips inside.
Kandra can wrap their blobby bodies around a set of bones to near-flawlessly
impersonate the departed. Fortunately for their enemies, the kandra are banned
from acts of violence against humans, and so they become watchers, eavesdroppers,
and thieves. The wealthiest noble houses take kandra under Contract to spy
on the activities of rival houses and businesses.
(pg 540).

ROGUE KANDRA
A strange slurping sound emanates from the dark alley. You round the
corner to investigate and view a horrifying scene: a translucent lump of alien
flesh is draped across the wet pavement, feeding on the half-digested corpse.
As you stare in transfixed shock, a human face forms on the thing’s back…
Kandra who violate their Contracts, kill a human, or break their people’s
other laws are often judged “rogues.” They’re banished from the Homeland and
left to wander the Final Empire without a home, purpose, or cause — unless they
take up with a thieving crew, mercenary band, or assassin’s guild, of course
(pg 541)

MISTWRAITH
The massive gelatinous creature shuffles through the misty field on legs of
men, horses, oxen, and Lord Ruler knows what else. Despite your proximity and
its ferocious reputation, the wraith doesn’t seem to notice you, content to feast
upon the carcass of an oxen abandoned to the night.
Mistwraiths are the larger cousins of kandra, with a fearsome reputation for
nightly attacks and strange chimeric appearances. They lack the intelligence of
the kandra, however, and wander rural and uncultivated areas aimlessly, absorbing
carrion and assimilating their bones into a twisted mockery of nature. Many
skaa live in terror of these beasts, but they only prove dangerous when provoked.
(pg 542)

MONSTER WRAITH
A giant with a thousand faces bellows in rage as it rushes toward you, its
form shifting and ephemeral like a night terror. You turn and flee, followed closely
by the cracking of trees, the beast’s unearthly howls, and the slap of tentacles,
hands, and hooves against the stony earth.
In the farthest reaches of the Final Empire there are reports of a different
breed of mistwraith — creatures the size of a small building that, through opportunity
or desperation, have gained a nasty streak of aggression and a taste for
the flesh of the living. These feral “monster wraiths” fit the reputation of all mistwraiths,
and are believed to consume whole villages in a single night.
(pg 543)


From Brandon:

Q: “How intelligent is a mistwraith? Could you raise and train mistwraiths like dogs or horses, controlling what forms they take by the bones you give them? Would you be able to train yourself a horsewraith steed by giving it only the bones of a horse?”

A:“This is feasible. One thing to keep in mind is that mistwraiths are people
who have a blockage between the physical and the cognitive realm, messing with their ability to think. Think of them as mentally-stunted people. There's enough there to train, but then you have to dig into the ethics of it...”

“Hemalurgy can give allomantic powers to a kandra. The process to do so is not known to anyone but Harmony.”

WOB:

EDIT: Now that we have easy access to Words of Brandon, here is a link to the 'Kandra' tag. Take a read through here to see some of the extra information Brandon has canonized about kandra.



Q: TenSoon wonders, and I wonder too- How can Kandra think and be sentient without Brains? Doesn't the body need a physical coordinator to relay between the Physical and Cognitive realm? Or do the spikes do a good enough job with that?

6) I imagine Kandra having a non-centralized nervous system, with brain power spread through their bodies. Well, non-centralized is probably the wrong way to say it. They have lobes of thought and memory attached to muscles here and there, and don't have a single 'brain.' They certainly have brain-like material, though.




From Annotations

MeLaan
It's never fully explained who MeLaan is, so I'll give you the background here. One thing that kandra do is take Contracts serving mankind in exchange for atium. However, there are other jobs that kandra can do back in the Homeland. One of the more prestigious ones includes the training and instruction of a child kandra.
This can take years and years, as kandra grow very slowly. TenSoon was appointed as a "parent" of a single kandra during his lifetime. (Many of the Fifth Generation have been parents dozens of times, but the Thirds are a rebellious group, and it was only after much consideration and political pressure in the Homeland that Thirds were given chances.)
MeLaan, then, is kind of TenSoon's adopted daughter. She has something of a hero-worship crush on him, inspired by his gruff style and adventuresome personality. Her idolizing of him borders on a romantic crush, and this makes TenSoon somewhat uncomfortable.
There you go. Now you can astound your friends with Mistborn background trivia.