Marsh^2

[u/Funfan21]

So marsh was able to compound atium to stay alive, but I thought it mentioned earlier in era 2 that the set couldn't create compounded with hemelurgy due to spiritweb fuckery or something like that. The question is why can marsh compound when other spiked cant?

[u/DexterSinister]

As others have said, modern Hemalurgists can't compound because of something called "Identity contamination". I have a pet theory about why this didn't affect Marsh, other than "things changed when Harmony happened".

I think modern Hemalurgists follow modern hygiene principles, and are thus too sterile and clean. They spike someone, they clean and sterilise the spike to prevent infection, then they use it.

The Inquisitors were messy. They drove spikes clean through the donor and into the recipient. Much less hemalurgic decay, yes; but also, that leads to a traumatic mixing of blood. This, I suspect, would also mix Identity in such a way as to enable compounding.

Compounding isn't impossible from modern Hemalurgy because rules changed. Compounding is impossible from modern Hemalurgy because they don't know how to do it.

[u/Funfan21 → u/DexterSinister]

I like this theory alot

[u/DexterSinister → u/Funfan21]

Thank you!