fabrikators are the strongest
some thoughts i posted on the grishaverse reddit and decided to share here too
I saw something that said that grisha could alternate between which part of their order they are in (e.g tidemaker to squaller, tailor to healer, etc.) depending on training?
If that's right shouldn't Fabrikators be the strongest? (In general. I know Ravka doesn't really find them too important yet)
Durasts seem to be able to control anything solid, the body is solid (and liquid but i'll mention that later) so under training they should be able to things similar to the Corporalki (minus the emotional aspects since the release of chemicals is more of an Alkemi thing, but of course there's not too much of a difference between the two types of fabrikator) and possibly Etherialki, due to Tidemakers being able to turn water into ice, which is a solid.
Alkemi can manipulate toxins and explosives, but on a chemical level there's nothing specific that makes some substances toxic and other's not: anything can be toxic if you have the right amount of it, and explosibility is very similar to flammability except with a lot more confinement pressure. With pretty much everything being able to be in those categories, Alkemi should be able to move through any of the orders under the correct training, especially the Etherialki order.
Leoni being able to manipulate the river of toxins (again, i haven't read the book but I believe someone said that it happens?) and Aditi removing the contaminated water from Leoni are good examples of both types of Fabrikator going into Tidemaker territory, and from there it should be a bit easier to control blood and other bodily fluids which is Corporalki territory.
I think that if this is the case, Zemeni people probably find the Materialki the most gifted Zowa since they already don't differentiate between orders which means that in the Zowa schools, it's most likely that they teach things very generally and a student probably chooses a path of study based on what they do best, which could be anything for a Fabrikator.
Also let's just remember that a Fabrikator is the reason for the amplifiers and Shadow Summoners (so by extension the reason for the Fold and monsters). And a Fabrikator made the drug that can kill all non Grisha who take it and alter/amplify Grisha abilities. (Imagine the power they could have if a fabrikator learned how to mix merzost with jurda parem- i actually have an au where one does so, or she tries at least)
