Questionable Questing

I mean, literally every alkahestry circle we see is the exact same design.
It's clearly got an element of feeling, just as much as thinking. So heck, maybe you wouldn't need the marker. Maybe that's the real boon of it, since there's so little to making an alkahestry circle.
Also, half related, my belief is that the dragon's pulse is the magnetic field or something.

It's probably either a magnetic field or some sort of tectonic fault, yeah.

If it were tectonic faults, I think Father would've succeeded in his attempts to block it along with the rest of alchemy.

If it is a magnetic field, I wonder if the chi they pick up on is the neurological magnetic field...and Al's armor body is either nonferrous or just seems obviously nonliving because it's a static magnetic field.

Depends how Father's ability to block faults actually works, but good point.

Likely a magnetic field then.

Bioelectricity and such being chi wouldn't be inconsistent. Al's armour, on the other hand... I honestly dunno, I'd have to rewatch the series, and that's a lot of episodes.

...Another interesting thought: could someone with knowledge of alchemy and alkahestry on par with Scar's brother, and who'd seen the Gate, clap transmute in a way that fuses the two? Ah well, this is a lot to talk about in a series of profile post comments.

Eh, if chi is biolectricity, it'd make sense that Al didn't seem alive to them. There's no /bio/electricity in ensouled armor.

I think fusing Alkhestry and Alchemy was explicitly called possible by Scar, when he mentioned that he had no real alchemy knowledge. He just didn't know how.

That's the principles of his arm tattoos, fusing the two. I'm wondering if someone with clap alchemy and clap alkahestry (from one instance of human transmutation) could figure out clap-alchemihestry.

I suppose that depends on how generous Truth is, in the end. It relies on the idea that you gain clap casting from the Gate and it applies to both arts, rather then the specific art that went to the gate.

Might work, but we're in the land of ifs and maybes.

Heh...maybe the only reason they got clap casting for both is because they got a little hubristic with their fusion of the two arts, and tried to bring someone back to life with it, 'cause they thought their homebrew fixed the problems it had.
And in exchange, they lost...all four limbs and their vocal cords.

Eh, Truth is more sadistic then that.

There's literally a Truth for every person (with the line blurred for the Elrics), just like there's a gate for every person. Word of the mangaka.

Father's truth was a sadistic being that meted out an existential eradication because it was /Father/'s all knowing doppleganger.

Ed's Truth wanted him to grow as a person and learn that alchemy wasn't everything in life.

Yes, but that's because each Truth is in some way a opposite complement to the character in question. Note Mustang's Truth, who took his eyes because tunnel vision was beginning to destroy him.

Maybe the flaw of hypothetical fusion man who doesn't try to save Amestris with an alkahestric reversal array is that he was letting his affairs in life fall to shit over the idea that he could go anywhere, do anything, and get anyone's help, all to further research that could change everything.
And so Truth took away his power to go /anywhere/, do /anything/, or get /anyone/'s help.

He hadn't actually gone too far yet, but he wasn't too far off from deciding to.

I'd be inclined to say everything man would probably incur a nasty price like memory or something, since he would be coming out with about as close to absolute power as your allowed to have.

As for Mustang, well yeah, but Ed got the "Alchemy ain't everything" lesson very early in life too, he just didn't realise it till much later.

I actually wasn't talking about Mustang. Just momentarily forgot that I could edit a profile post comment.
So we're talking him getting left with no traces of his life outside of alchemihestry left? Rough. Hope he leads a fulfilling life with his line of sight wizardry and utter inability to connect to the people who're worried about him.

Anyways, I think we might have gone a bit excessive with the like farm that is this conversation.