23 votes

Commercial uses of bendalloy and cadmium mistings (inspired by Brandon Sanderson's 'The Lost Metal')

Posted by ra314 (edited )
Tags: ask.discussion, fantasy, brandon sanderson, cosmere, the lost metal, mistborn.era 2, hypothetical

Edit: Some context if you're unfamiliar with mistborn: A bend alloy misting (slider) can create a bubble where time moves faster. A cadmium misting (pulser) can create a bubble where time moves slower. These bubbles can't be moved, unless they're on an object of significant mass that is already moving, like a train. The civilisation in The Lost Metal is roughly in the industrial age.

I was reading "The Lost Metal" and the newspaper ad after chapter 2 mentions hiring bend alloy mistings for a fast food restaurant. And I was thinking of more commercially profitable uses. Because fast food, wouldn't (I think) have sufficient margin to support consumption of bend alloy which is supposed to be expensive. So here are some ideas I had:

  • One idea I had was a CEO using a bend alloy misting to give them more hours in a day. Time for CEOs is already at a premium so giving them more I think would be economically worth it, but I don't know if they have anyone comparable to that in mistborn era 2.
  • I also think this would work for lawyers. I'm not sure how much a lawyer in Elendel gets paid but we do know they exist. In the real world sometimes lawyer bill for more than 24 hours a day (illegally)! But imagine if a lawyer could do that legitimately now. Maybe even 48 hours in a day!
  • An idea I had for cadmium mistings was to speed up travel. Maybe for rich people you could use a slider to get up time so that their train journey appears to them to go by really fast. But that might be counteracted by their circadian rhythm getting messed up.

The following links contain some discussion on the usage of bend alloy and cadmium for commercial uses.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Cosmere/comments/ajdsjh/practical_usage_of_powers/

Some ideas mentioned there include using a slider in the waiting room of a hospital, or to preserve food, or to reduce the amount of food needed to support a siege, or to reduce the amount of supplies needed for Interstellar travel.

What are some other ideas you have for how a pulser or slider could be used during that time period in a profitable manner?
If you find other discussion online about these powers, please link them here.

9 comments

  1. [5]
    treed
    Link
    Related to the fast food thing: Potentially anything where you have to wait for long periods of time, as with brewing or aging distilled spirits. "He's so wealthy he can have 21 year scotch from...

    Related to the fast food thing: Potentially anything where you have to wait for long periods of time, as with brewing or aging distilled spirits.

    "He's so wealthy he can have 21 year scotch from last year's batch!"

    4 votes
    1. [3]
      ra314
      Link Parent
      First off, great idea! I'm thinking we don't want a misting spending 21 years in a time bubble just to age up some wine. But we can get around this with those allomantic grenades. I imagine you...

      First off, great idea! I'm thinking we don't want a misting spending 21 years in a time bubble just to age up some wine. But we can get around this with those allomantic grenades. I imagine you can stack allomantic grenades to get the desired aging for the wine, since we know that speed bubbles stack in their effect.

      Would have to be marked I suppose for safety. Could you imagine accidentally walking through it, and your family is all aged up 20 years, haha.

      1 vote
      1. [2]
        RheingoldRiver
        Link Parent
        I could see it being used also in this way for: Speeding up the cleaning of toxic spillages or other disasters (maybe slowing down explosions, not just from violence but also e.g. controlled...

        I could see it being used also in this way for:

        • Speeding up the cleaning of toxic spillages or other disasters (maybe slowing down explosions, not just from violence but also e.g. controlled demolitions of buildings, or bridges collapsing, bendalloy to get there quicker, cadmium to slow down the damage before it can hit civilians underneath)
        • Certainly bendalloy mistings in emergency vehicles
        • Making computations run faster once they have computers, your processor doesn't need to be faster, you just need more improved bendalloy grenades!
        1 vote
        1. ra314
          Link Parent
          Regarding computers, I think the effect would be the same as if you had the ability to infinitely overclock the computer. I imagine that when you create a sped up time bubble containing your...

          Regarding computers, I think the effect would be the same as if you had the ability to infinitely overclock the computer. I imagine that when you create a sped up time bubble containing your computer, then outside the time bubble there would be a surge of increase in power consumption by the computer. This also means that the computer is now producing heat that is proportional to the compression factor of the time bubble. Now inside the bubble it wouldn't get very hot but outside it could get pretty hot very quick. I can't find any sources on what happens if you light say a campfire inside a bubble does it become super hot on the outside of the bubble?

    2. FlippantGod
      Link Parent
      Building on that, companies would absolutely pay to have their products graded on aging potential, thus distinguishing "good aging products" from inferior products and driving sales from customers...

      Building on that, companies would absolutely pay to have their products graded on aging potential, thus distinguishing "good aging products" from inferior products and driving sales from customers who won't pay to have large batches aged in advance (either due to cost or because it is an investment).

      Similarly, an entire new field of endurance testing would open up.

      1 vote
  2. [4]
    RheingoldRiver
    Link
    Hire a bendalloy misting to give you more time in your destination (if vacation) Hire them for long enough to make it a full day (if going home / boring)

    But that might be counteracted by their circadian rhythm getting messed up.

    1. Hire a bendalloy misting to give you more time in your destination (if vacation)
    2. Hire them for long enough to make it a full day (if going home / boring)
    1 vote
    1. [3]
      ra314
      Link Parent
      Great idea! Speed up time on the train, but slow time down once you reach your destination. Now the limitation is that the time bubbles can't be moved around, but I can think of a few vacation...

      Great idea! Speed up time on the train, but slow time down once you reach your destination. Now the limitation is that the time bubbles can't be moved around, but I can think of a few vacation ideas that don't involve much moving. So A+ for plausibility.

      1 vote
      1. [2]
        RheingoldRiver
        Link Parent
        Actually now that you mention it, couldn't you find someone who works nights and then have them give you the time back after you've stayed up late and are finally ready to go to bed? That should...

        Actually now that you mention it, couldn't you find someone who works nights and then have them give you the time back after you've stayed up late and are finally ready to go to bed? That should work in both cases I think. (Though good luck to the mistings)

        1 vote
        1. ra314
          Link Parent
          Could get around having sad mistings, by stacking allomantic grenades!

          Could get around having sad mistings, by stacking allomantic grenades!

          1 vote