I basically devoured the first to books, and something comes to mind.

It's been established that, at least among folks out on the frontier/country, Alerans' furies take particular forms and identities. Except metal (of course, few metalcrafters are present in the main cast, but bare with me). This makes some sense, if you consider that unlike air, water, and earth (and fire, if you just want to go with combustion and oxygen in the air as its manifestation), metal isn't exactly abundant. Armor, swords, etc, would be the most readily available metal for a metalcrafter.

Could personal furies be present in the swords, armor, and shields? If so, this could allow a special bond between a metalcrafter and their equipment kind of dynamic.

A second thought just occurred to me. What effects could metalcrafters achieve if they knew that there was iron in their blood?

 

The way I see it, a sword (or anything else made of metal) is born of earth, shaped by fire, fueled by wood and air, and quenched by water - all at the hands of an Aleran, usually a metalcrafter. You could argue that the swords they make are their manifested furies, but even if you don't, you could very, very easily explain why they can't pull a Magneto.

 

I vaguely recall something about a Metal Fury being manifested once, and that it was apparently a terrifying sight to see.

That was either a comment by Butcher in his forums in answer to a question about Metal Furies, or maybe it was a passing comment in one of the books when someone asked about Metal Furies. Not very helpful I know, but I'm looking through the books/forums atm to check which one it was

Spoiler for the last book below if you haven't read it:

Spoiler

At the end of the latest book, Gauis seems to manifest a Metal Fury, turning his skin to Metal for a fight. It doesn't specifically say that this is Metal Crafting though, just that his skin turns to metal etc

 

I think water-crafters can stuff someone up or kill them with a touch. Can someone, who has read the first book recently, comment? I think it is mentioned in there.

 

I would say when Sextus turns to solid metal before his final battle in Alera Imperia that would count as a metal fury manifest.

 

Controlling people using their blood equals gay. Can earth benders control the minerals in the body? Can Air benders control the gases in a body? Avatar is shitty reference material for what is possible in Alera.

 

Yeah, that seems a bit... much.

I was thinking something relating to oxygen use, but (given the general attitude towards more mundane science and engineering) I doubt they would have the knowledge required.

 

They both deal with elements, but controlling people with their blood is a shitty idea. That would not transfer over to a Jim Butcher book. If Isana pulled that shit out of her ass, it would only hurt the story by turning a near Mary Sue into a complete Mary Sue.

 

My bad. Misread.

 

Been re-reading the books and I came across this in the first book;

She wasn't able to kill in this case, but was able to incapacitate him, leaving her with time take care of the other Marat by doing the following...

and

So yes, it seems you can kill a person through manipulating their blood (in this case watercrafting not metalcrafting), but you need to cut them up, and send your fury into their body.

That being said, against a powerful furycrafter, or even a normal strength crafter, you would probably die before you could kill a person (It took Isana 1 minute to kill the Marat) unless they were .. sleeping or unable to use their own crafting in defense.

Also, being able to manipulate the 2grams or so of Iron in someone's blood? Singular Iron molecules at that.. doesn't seem possible

 

Sextus in his prime might have been able too but thats probably about it. Most of the high lords are around Sextus's level in the time of the books. No telling what Sextus was capable of in his prime.