How was Malatium created?

[Walter The Moral]

We know that Malatium (the Eleventh Metal) is an alloy of Atium and Gold. This fits the pattern of turning Temporal Internal Metals external by alloying them with Atium (Electrum-Atium sees others' futures, Malatium sees others' pasts). But I have two questions about this. First, I don't know a lot about alloying metals, but I'd assume that you need to first melt them, and we know that it is impossible to melt God Metals through normal means. When Wax was trying to melt Harmonium, he found that their states of matter are not affected by temperature or pressure (otherwise the Mists would be burning everyone's lungs). So, how did the person who made it melt it down to mix it with gold?
Also, if the metal in the Pits is partially Electrum, does that mean there is Electrum in Malatium? Most of Electrum is gold, but there's still stuff like Silver and Copper in there, so wouldn't that make it not Allomantically viable?

I'm excited to hear your ideas!

[Aeoryi she/her]

Just now, Walter The Moral said:

We know that Malatium (the Eleventh Metal) is an alloy of Atium and Gold. This fits the pattern of turning Temporal Internal Metals external by alloying them with Atium (Electrum-Atium sees others' futures, Malatium sees others' pasts). But I have two questions about this. First, I don't know a lot about alloying metals, but I'd assume that you need to first melt them, and we know that it is impossible to melt God Metals through normal means. When Wax was trying to melt Harmonium, he found that their states of matter are not affected by temperature or pressure (otherwise the Mists would be burning everyone's lungs). So, how did the person who made it melt it down to mix it with gold?
Also, if the metal in the Pits is partially Electrum, does that mean there is Electrum in Malatium? Most of Electrum is gold, but there's still stuff like Silver and Copper in there, so wouldn't that make it not Allomantically viable?

I'm excited to hear your ideas!

Electrum (allomantic) is 55% silver and 45% gold - or something like that.

Just because steel has carbon in it, it doesn't mean you can't burn it. It is mentioned that if it is slightly off, it loses some allomantic power, but can be burned for less effect. 

Alloying metals - I believe it was mentioned somewhere that all Atium (that they used in the HoA) had a bit of gold in it, and wasn't 100% pure. So it might be possible with that. I'll be honest, I'm not even sure how that works. You might need to find irl examples.

[Walter The Moral]

1 minute ago, Aeoryi said:

I believe it was mentioned somewhere that all Atium (that they used in the HoA) had a bit of gold in it, and wasn't 100% pure.

It's been confirmed that it contains Electrum, and that's why its powers are so similar to Electrum. Pure Atium allows you to see directly into the Spiritual Realm, similar to what happened to Elend at the end of HoA.

[Treamayne]

35 minutes ago, Walter The Moral said:

So, how did the person who made it melt it down to mix it with gold?

The Eleventh Metal (MAG, Arcanum Unbounded) has what little we know about the creation of Malatium. It isn't much (lab equipment is only descibed as "apparatus").

However, the Other Wiki shows that there are a number of ways to make an alloy, to include interstitial mechanisms. Presumably, the gold would be melted and fine shavings of Atium added, then the result would be cast and forged to form the metallic bonds required for the alloy. 

 

 

[alder24]

1 hour ago, Walter The Moral said:

We know that Malatium (the Eleventh Metal) is an alloy of Atium and Gold. This fits the pattern of turning Temporal Internal Metals external by alloying them with Atium (Electrum-Atium sees others' futures, Malatium sees others' pasts). But I have two questions about this. First, I don't know a lot about alloying metals, but I'd assume that you need to first melt them, and we know that it is impossible to melt God Metals through normal means. When Wax was trying to melt Harmonium, he found that their states of matter are not affected by temperature or pressure (otherwise the Mists would be burning everyone's lungs). So, how did the person who made it melt it down to mix it with gold?

Era 1 Aium is an alloy of electrum and pure Atium, electrum is an alloy of gold and silver - you just need to somehow take out silver from it to get Malatium. There was no pure Atium during TFE, so it would be impossible for somebody to mix it with gold, the only option I see is to separate silver from Atium-electrum alloy. There is WoB about it, but that's RAFO:

Spoiler

Kingsdaughter613

Primary question: Peter recently said something about atium in Era 1 actually being an atium-electrum alloy, which is called nalatium. Is this accurate?

Brandon Sanderson

This is accurate, yes.

You could, by the way, just continue to call it atium. That's what they think atium is in-world. It's very slightly tainted.

Kingsdaughter613

Secondary questions: If the above is yes, did Kelsier get malatium by separating the atium and gold from the silver in nalatium? If so, do atium and gold have similar melting points?

Brandon Sanderson

That's more of a RAFO in that I'm not sure I want to canonize any of that right now. 

Footnote: Peter's comment did not give the alloy a name, Adam misread a sentence where the questioner mentioned their own nickname for it.
YouTube Spoiler Stream 3 (Dec. 16, 2021)

 

1 hour ago, Walter The Moral said:

Also, if the metal in the Pits is partially Electrum, does that mean there is Electrum in Malatium? Most of Electrum is gold, but there's still stuff like Silver and Copper in there, so wouldn't that make it not Allomantically viable?

It's the opposite. If there was silver in Malatium, it wouldn't be Malatium, it would be Era 1 Atium. You need to take that stuff out to get Malatium. 

Melting point of silver is 961.8 °C, melting point of gold is 1,064 °C. I'm don't know much about alloys, but from Wikipedia:

Quote

Unlike pure metals, most alloys do not have a single melting point, but a melting range during which the material is a mixture of solid and liquid phases (a slush). The temperature at which melting begins is called the solidus, and the temperature when melting is just complete is called the liquidus. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alloy#Theory

In chemistry, materials science, and physics, the liquidus temperature specifies the temperature above which a material is completely liquid,[2] and the maximum temperature at which crystals can co-exist with the melt in thermodynamic equilibrium. The solidus is the locus of temperatures (a curve on a phase diagram) below which a given substance is completely solid (crystallized). The solidus temperature, specifies the temperature below which a material is completely solid,[2] and the minimum temperature at which a melt can co-exist with crystals in thermodynamic equilibrium. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidus_and_solidus#Definitions

It seems you have a window of 100 degrees when you can melt silver off it without melting gold. Atium would likely have much higher melting point, so it would be unaffected. But I don't know if that's how melting alloys works.

[Treamayne]

2 hours ago, alder24 said:

Era 1 Aium is an alloy of electrum and pure Atium, electrum is an alloy of gold and silver - you just need to somehow take out silver from it to get Malatium.

I would just like to note that this is conjecture. We have no evidence (either way) if Malatium is "True Atium + Gold" or "Era 1 Atium + Gold." It's entirely possible that Malatium is Era 1 Atium with different ratio percentages (by adding Gold).

Technically, naturally occuring Electrum also has copper (but not a significant percentage), just as Bronze and Brass both tend to have lead, manganese and other traces. Since we do not yet have "official" "allomantic ratios" for most metals (just Pewter and Durlumin IIRC) and we don't know the tolerance for trace components (likely < 1% combined) we can't really say for certain with way.

[Walter The Moral]

7 hours ago, alder24 said:

Atium would likely have much higher melting point, so it would be unaffected.

Does Atium have a melting point? We know that Harmonium does not change state due to heat or pressure, so maybe Atium doesn't either.

[alder24]

11 hours ago, Treamayne said:

I would just like to note that this is conjecture. We have no evidence (either way) if Malatium is "True Atium + Gold" or "Era 1 Atium + Gold." It's entirely possible that Malatium is Era 1 Atium with different ratio percentages (by adding Gold).

I disagree - it's an alloy of Atium god metal, not Era 1 Atium. Both Era 1 Atium and Malatium are alloys of god metal, and works like a god metal should work - Era 1 Atium is paired with electrum, while malatium is paired with gold. I don't think Era 1 Atium alloyed with more gold would work at all - it's no longer Pure Atium alloy, and electrum + more gold isn't a base 16 metal. It just doesn't make sense to me for Malatium to be an alloy of Era 1 Atium as it wouldn't fit the table at all. Yes, there might be some contamination present, but overall it should be an alloy of pure Atium and gold. 

6 hours ago, Walter The Moral said:

Does Atium have a melting point? We know that Harmonium does not change state due to heat or pressure, so maybe Atium doesn't either.

Harmonium changes when heated, it glows (Trellium too), it becomes more malleable, more stable, and even rearranges itself to have visual characteristics of both Atium and Lerasium. So we know god metal reacts to heating, and behaves just like a normal metal would behave when heated. And because in Cosmere investiture=energy=matter, I see no reason why a god metal, if given enough energy, wouldn't be able to melt and change states into liquid investiture. Wax was able to reach only 3000 degrees (it wasn't said if F or C), but some materials, like tungsten, have a melting point even above that - 3422 °C (6191.6 °F).

Even if Atium itself doesn't melt for some magical reason, gold and silver in Atium alloy would still melt.

[Treamayne]

9 minutes ago, alder24 said:

I disagree - it's an alloy of Atium god metal, not Era 1 Atium. Both Era 1 Atium and Malatium are alloys of god metal, and works like a god metal should work - Era 1 Atium is paired with electrum, while malatium is paired with gold. I don't think Era 1 Atium alloyed with more gold would work at all - it's no longer Pure Atium alloy, and electrum + more gold isn't a base 16 metal. It just doesn't make sense to me for Malatium to be an alloy of Era 1 Atium as it wouldn't fit the table at all. Yes, there might be some contamination present, but overall it should be an alloy of pure Atium and gold.

I'm fine with us disagreeing. I see it as this:

Nobody in Era 1 (and few if any post-catacendre) knew or realized that Era 1 Atium was an alloy at all. Shezler would have no reason or inclination to try removing silver content to turn one alloy into a different alloy. However, he was obviously successful. So, barring new data - the only process that makes sense to me was trying to alloy Era 1 Atium with other things (searching for it's "pair") and he eventually arrived at Era 1 Atium + Gold = Malatium. (Note: IRL Gold + Silver is known as White Gold, and is also it's own alloy - so the forging process could also be described as changing the nature of the Electrum into White Gold: Making Malatium an alloy of Atium+ White Gold)

I'm neither saying nor implying your reasoning is unsound - I just want future readers of this thread to realize that until we have more data, there is more than one valid interpretation of the current evidence.

Edit: White Gold Note

Edited September 20, 2023 by Treamayne
SPAG

[alder24]

2 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Nobody in Era 1 (and few if any post-catacendre) knew or realized that Era 1 Atium was an alloy at all. Shezler would have no reason or inclination to try removing silver content to turn one alloy into a different alloy. However, he was obviously successful. So, barring new data - the only process that makes sense to me was trying to alloy Era 1 Atium with other things (searching for it's "pair") and he eventually arrived at Era 1 Atium + Gold = Malatium.

True, but on the other hand they didn't know what Atium is at all. If they tried to melt it, to measure its properties and melting point (which is very reasonable and scientific thing to do), and parts of it would melt, while some would remain in the solid form, they would know for sure that Era 1 Atium is an alloy, and would quickly deduce that it's an alloy of gold, silver and some third unidentified component. We don't know how Malatium was discovered, however we know Ruin was fabricated the story about it - I wouldn't be surprised if he was involved directly in Malatium's discovery, and Coppermind indicates that was the case:

Quote

At some point in time Shezler presumably fell under Ruin's influence.^{[note 1]}

1.  In Mistborn: Secret History, Ruin claims to be responsible for Kelsier eventually discovering the Eleventh Metal; both Shezler and Gemmel show signs of Ruin's influence.^[2]

If Ruin was involved, they would have every reason to remove silver from Atium, even if they don't truly understand why.

[Treamayne]

8 minutes ago, alder24 said:

True, but on the other hand they didn't know what Atium is at all. If they tried to melt it, to measure its properties and melting point (which is very reasonable and scientific thing to do), and parts of it would melt, while some would remain in the solid form, they would know for sure that Era 1 Atium is an alloy, and would quickly deduce that it's an alloy of gold, silver and some third unidentified component. We don't know how Malatium was discovered, however we know Ruin was fabricated the story about it - I wouldn't be surprised if he was involved directly in Malatium's discovery, and Coppermind indicates that was the case:

Quote

At some point in time Shezler presumably fell under Ruin's influence.^{[note 1]}

1.  In Mistborn: Secret History, Ruin claims to be responsible for Kelsier eventually discovering the Eleventh Metal; both Shezler and Gemmel show signs of Ruin's influence.^[2]

If Ruin was involved, they would have every reason to remove silver from Atium, even if they don't truly understand why.

Agreed, Ruin claims to have been responsible. Scadrial's lying god of destruction, shown to barely be able to send minor thoughts while trapped in the well to people who have cracks in their soul, claims to have invented an entire fabricated myth implying he also taught entire lessons in advanced metallurgy to achieve the creation of Malatium. Occam's razor implies he's lying (or at least vastly overstating his influence). Gemmel's influence by Ruin is shown and obvious. We have no indications that Shezler was also influenced. It's far more likely that Shezler found something through repeated experimentation, Ruin recognized the discovery and influenced Gemmel to lead Kelsier there.

We see the results and Ruin can claim to have "orchestrated everything."

PS: While you replied, I edited the above post - in case you didn't notice my White Gold thought. . .

Edited September 20, 2023 by Treamayne

[alder24]

12 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Agreed, Ruin claims to have been responsible. Scadrial's lying god of destruction, shown to barely be able to send minor thoughts while trapped in the well to people who have cracks in their soul, claims to have invented an entire fabricated myth implying he also taught entire lessons in advanced metallurgy to achieve the creation of Malatium. Occam's razor implies he's lying (or at least vastly overstating his influence). Gemmel's influence by Ruin is shown and obvious. We have no indications that Shezler was also influenced. It's far more likely that Shezler found something through repeated experimentation, Ruin recognized the discovery and influenced Gemmel to lead Kelsier there.

Ruin changed prophecies about the Hero of Ages, influenced Alendi, whispered to Rashek, used Vin's mother to spike Vin (and he spiked Alendi too, possibly Zane), influenced Vin and Zane as well, not to mention inquisitors. He had a great deal of influence over people even when imprisoned, and was particularly subtle with Vin. Sazed also claimed Ruin fabricated stories about Malatium, and I'm willing to believe him. Ruin didn't have to teach anyone metallurgy - Shezler already was a scholar, he would pick Ruin's attention when he started to experiment with Atium (or even this was Ruin's doing). Then the only thing Ruin needed to do was insert thoughts into his mind 'what if you try to melt it", "what if you remove silver from it" and that's it, Malatium is discovered. HoA ch 24 epigraph:

Quote

I now believe that Kelsier's stories, legends, and prophecies about the "Eleventh Metal" were fabricated by Ruin. Kelsier was looking for a way to kill the Lord Ruler, and Ruin—ever subtle—provided a way.

That secret was indeed crucial. Kelsier's Eleventh Metal provided the very clue we needed to defeat the Lord Ruler. However, even in this, we were manipulated. The Lord Ruler knew Ruin's goals, and would never have released him from the Well of Ascension. So, Ruin needed other pawns—and for that to happen, the Lord Ruler needed to die. Even our greatest victory was shaped by Ruin's subtle fingers.

Those prophecies about Malatium could be simply inserted into Shezler's notes, after Kelsier took them. Nothing more. 

24 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

PS: While you replied, I edited the above post - in case you didn't notice my White Gold thought. . .

47 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

(Note: IRL Gold + Silver is known as White Gold, and is also it's own alloy - so the forging process could also be described as changing the nature of the Electrum into White Gold: Making Malatium an alloy of Atium+ White Gold)

Googling it now, electrum was referred to sometimes as white gold, but also pale gold or green gold. In that case white gold is the same as electrum so no change would be done. Modern white gold is an alloy of gold, nickel, zinc or other white metals - that's not Malatium: 

Quote

Electrum was often referred to as "white gold" in ancient times, but could be more accurately described as "pale gold", as it is usually pale yellow or yellowish-white in color. The modern use of the term white gold usually concerns gold alloyed with any one or a combination of nickel, silver, platinum and palladium to produce a silver-colored gold. -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrum#Etymology

White gold was originally developed to imitate platinum (a naturally white metal). White gold is usually an alloy containing about 75% gold and about 25% nickel and zinc. If stamped 18 karat, it would be 75% pure gold.

White gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal (usually nickel, silver, or palladium).^[4] Like yellow gold, the purity of white gold is given in karats. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colored_gold#White_gold

 

For Malatium to fit base metals and alloy rules, it has to be an alloy of pure Atium and gold (plus some impurities which can be removed as technology progresses). But that's it. It can't be an alloy of Atium and electrum, as that's Era 1 Atium. You can't have two the same alloys, just with a slightly different composition. An alloy of 80% gold + 20% silver is still called electrum. Just like there is one duralumin alloy that works, there is only one electrum alloy that works, and therefore there has to be only one Atium-electrum alloy that works. Alloying Era 1 Atium with more gold would make just a different electrum alloy, which isn't Allomantically viable anymore. Malatium can't be an alloy of Atium and electrum, as that one already exissts, it has to be an alloy with gold, because that's the pair to electrum in base metals. That's how I see it, it's fine to disagree and search for other possibilities of course, it's more fun this way.

[Treamayne]

29 minutes ago, alder24 said:

Ruin changed prophecies about the Hero of Ages, influenced Alendi, whispered to Rashek, used Vin's mother to spike Vin (and he spiked Alendi too, possibly Zane), influenced Vin and Zane as well, not to mention inquisitors. He had a great deal of influence over people even when imprisoned, and was particularly subtle with Vin. Sazed also claimed Ruin fabricated stories about Malatium, and I'm willing to believe him.

You speak of two different things as if they were the same. Vin's Mother was schizophrenic, not spiked. We don't know Gemmel's mental illness, but it is unlikely that he was spiked. There is no evidence that Shezler was mentally "cracked" or spiked. We cannot assume that Ruin can influence the mentally unstable the way he does those who are spiked (Vin, Zane). True, he helped Vin's mother apply a correct spike to Vin - so there must be some level of influence (or her phychosis was was very deep - and being schizophrenic she would already be pre-disposed to acting on what the voices in her head told her to do).

Spoiler

Brandon Sanderson

Annotations to Chapter Seventy-Two - Part Two

<Snip>

You can probably see it now. Vin's mother, who was schizophrenic, was corrupted by Ruin, who spoke in her mind. He got her to love her first daughter, but hate her second—to see the second as a repulsive monster. In her insanity, she killed the second daughter by cutting open her chest and ramming a pin through her heart. Then, she stuck that same pin into Vin's ear, turning it into an earring.

Quote

Ruin didn't have to teach anyone metallurgy - Shezler already was a scholar, he would pick Ruin's attention when he started to experiment with Atium (or even this was Ruin's doing). Then the only thing Ruin needed to do was insert thoughts into his mind 'what if you try to melt it", "what if you remove silver from it" and that's it, Malatium is discovered.

True, I had not considered just changing Shezler's notes - he would not need to "talk" to him if he could just insert ideas into past logbook entries. 

37 minutes ago, alder24 said:

For Malatium to fit base metals and alloy rules, it has to be an alloy of pure Atium and gold (plus some impurities which can be removed as technology progresses).

Not necessarilly, Intent matters. If Era 1 Atium was thought-of, treated-as, and considered "one metal" - then the alloying process could work if Intent does influence it. Also, please do not forget that Preservation chessmastered the whole thing. If Fuzz said "let Era 1 Atium be 'Atium' and have this effect" he could equally have said "let Era 1 Atium alloy with gold and have this other effect." He designed these two metals to fulfill his goals and purposely altered Allomancy to make them viable. 

I don't think we can know for sure until new information is forthcoming. 

[alder24]

43 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

You speak of two different things as if they were the same. Vin's Mother was schizophrenic, not spiked. We don't know Gemmel's mental illness, but it is unlikely that he was spiked. There is no evidence that Shezler was mentally "cracked" or spiked. We cannot assume that Ruin can influence the mentally unstable the way he does those who are spiked (Vin, Zane). True, he helped Vin's mother apply a correct spike to Vin - so there must be some level of influence (or her phychosis was was very deep - and being schizophrenic she would already be pre-disposed to acting on what the voices in her head told her to do).

I'm not saying those are the same things, that Vin's mother was spiked. I'm only saying that Ruin can have some level of influence over mentally unstable or spiked people. We see this in SH, where Kelsier was able to talk to spiked individuals and also to mentally damaged people - some weren't showing any visible signs of mental instability, yet their souls were cracked allowing Kelsier (and Ruin) to enter and influence them. SH ch 6.3:

Quote

“So, Midge, ” Kelsier whispered to the dozing man. “You got that?”
“Mission . . .” the scruffy soldier mumbled. “Survivor . . .”
“You can’t trust anyone pierced by metal,” Kelsier said. “Tell her that. Those exact words. It’s a mission for you from the Survivor.”
The man snorted awake; he was supposed to have been on watch, and he stumbled to his feet as his replacement approached. Kelsier regarded the glowing beings, anxious. It had taken precious days— during which Ruin had kept him far from Vin—to search out someone in the army who was touched in the head, someone with that distinctive soul of madness.
It wasn’t that they were broken, as he had once guessed. They were merely . . . open. This man, Midge, seemed perfect. He responded to Kelsier’s words, but he wasn’t so unhinged that the others ignored him.

While this particular example ended horribly after a few days of struggle, given enough time, years even, Ruin could slowly imprint the idea of particular way of experimentation with Atium to Shezler, leading to the discovery of Malatium.

59 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Not necessarilly, Intent matters. If Era 1 Atium was thought-of, treated-as, and considered "one metal" - then the alloying process could work if Intent does influence it.

Generally yes, but I don't think it matters in this case. It's a purely mechanical process. The chemical composition of metal is just a filter for the power to come through. Creating steel doesn't require any special intent, creating Malatium shouldn't require it as well. Anyone who would try to melt Atium would realize it's an alloy and could simply work with that.

1 hour ago, Treamayne said:

Also, please do not forget that Preservation chessmastered the whole thing. If Fuzz said "let Era 1 Atium be 'Atium' and have this effect" he could equally have said "let Era 1 Atium alloy with gold and have this other effect." He designed these two metals to fulfill his goals and purposely altered Allomancy to make them viable. 

Well, that was before the retcon changed a lot of things and came in conflict with lots of WoBs and annotations. Now Preservation couldn't change the effect of Atium alloys, and we have no reason to believe that Era 1 Atium was called just Atium, not Atium-electrum alloy or other fancy name, because Preservation designed it that way. Preservation only Splintered Ruin and created the Pits of Hathsin, binding Ruin's essence to leak out of it in form of Atium-electrum alloy, but he likely didn't alter its effect, nor did he alter Malatium's effect - he can't have such influence over Ruin's own essence to change what it does. The same goes with making them Allomantically viable - unlikely to happen now after the retcon, as that's the nature of god metals - everyone can burn them. The nature of god metal alloys are likely more limited, thus only Mistings of those base metals can burn their god metal alloys. What Preservation did was prepare the weapon (Atium-electrum alloy), soldiers (Mistsnapped electrum Mistings), prophecies and signs (16% of which 1% was electrum Mistings being sick for 16 days) for people to prevent Ruin from gaining the upper hand. No altering of Allomancy is not needed after the retcon, 

[Treamayne]

3 minutes ago, alder24 said:

Well, ... thus only Mistings of those base metals can burn their god metal alloys.

The Retcon is older than HoA:

Spoiler

LewsTherinTelescope

Interesting. Do you know if he had already conceived the retcon by the time the poster was written, or if that line about pure atium just turned out to fit really well retroactively?

Peter Ahlstrom

The retcon is way older than a lot of people assume.

 see this thread reply from 2009

Spoiler

Quote from: Aranfan on November 13, 2009, 10:32:29 PM

Quote

I thought we had reached a consensus that the Atium we see the characters use was the Electrum Alloy form?

I thought myself so clever for coming up with this theory.
At this point I am in a position where I could confirm it or deny it.
However, my position also means that I must do no such thing.

Mwa ha ha ha ha.

 

And I wasn't trying to say that he changed the nature of Ruin's investiture (I'm sorry if I gave that impression) I was saygin that he changed how his invested art - Allomancy - interpreted and manifested those metals. If Preservation manipulated his own invested art to say "Era1 Atium + Gold is Allomantically viable" then it is. I'm not saying this is what happened, but I do think it is possible. 

[alder24]

Just now, Treamayne said:

The Retcon is older than HoA:

I know, I used to argue like this once.

1 minute ago, Treamayne said:

And I wasn't trying to say that he changed the nature of Ruin's investiture (I'm sorry if I gave that impression) I was saygin that he changed how his invested art - Allomancy - interpreted and manifested those metals. If Preservation manipulated his own invested art to say "Era1 Atium + Gold is Allomantically viable" then it is. I'm not saying this is what happened, but I do think it is possible. 

I find it unlikely to be evenpossible as normally it's metal's chemical composition that gives proper effect to the power. However in the case of god metals it's the investiture itself that not only is the fuel, but is restricted to do one, very specific thing. Preservation can't change the essence of another Shard, and I doubt even Ruin could change what Atium or Atium alloys do - they are physical manifestations of him, he would have to change his nature to change what Atium does.

At most Preservation could allow or restrict Mistings/Ferrings to be able to use their god metal alloys as well as their base metals.

Spoiler

Kaimipono

Allomancy is fueled by Preservation's body? How exactly does that work? And how does that interact with Atium—it's fueled by both gods' bodies?

Brandon Sanderson

The powers of Ruin and Preservation are Shards of Adonalsium, pieces of the power of creation itself. Allomancy, Hemalurgy, Feruchemy are manifestations of this power in mortal form, the ability to touch the powers of creation and use them. These metallic powers are how people's physical forms interpret the use of the Shard, though it's not the only possible way they could be interpreted or used. It's what the genetics and Realmatic interactions of Scadrial allow for, and has to do with the Spiritual, the Cognitive, and the Physical Realms.

Condensed 'essence' of these godly powers can act as super-fuel for Allomancy, Feruchemy, or really any of the powers. The form of that super fuel is important. In liquid form it's most potent, in gas form it's able to fuel Allomancy as if working as a metal. In physical form it is rigid and does one specific thing. In the case of atium, it allows sight into the future. In the case of concentrated Preservation, it gives one a permanent connection to the mists and the powers of creation. (I.e., it makes them an Allomancer.)

So when a person is burning metals, they aren't using Preservation's body as a fuel so to speak—though they are tapping into the powers of creation just slightly. When Vin burns the mists, however, she'd doing just that—using the essence of Preservation, the Shard of Adonalsium itself—to fuel Allomancy. Doing this, however, rips 'troughs' through her body. It's like forcing far too much pressure through a very small, fragile hose. That much power eventually vaporizes the corporeal host, which is acting as the block and forcing the power into a single type of conduit (Allomancy) and frees it to be more expansive.

Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide (Oct. 15, 2008)