Lerasium/Atium Savant Post-Catacendre

[Etedbert he/him]

Spoilers for Mistborn Eras 1 and 2

There’s an old WOB from 2012 talking about if a Mistborn burned enough Lerasium to reach savant status.

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Douglas

What about a lerasium savant? Or would that require so much lerasium that the person attempting it would ascend to become a new Shardholder?

Brandon Sanderson

Basically, this is what Ascension is.

17th Shard Forum Q&A (Sept. 27, 2012)

It’s basically saying that pre-Catacendre when Preservation’s power isn’t fully held by a Vessel, a Mistborn could Ascend by being invested with enough of Preservation’s power through Lerasium.

Spoiler

Later in Mistborn Era 2 we see Wax is able to split Harmonium into Lerasium and Atium.

If a Mistborn in Era 2 or beyond obtained and burned enough of either metal to become a savant, since the shard’s powers are already held, would they become an Avatar by being so heavily invested with the shard’s power? And if so, would they be an avatar of Preservation/Ruin, or of Harmony?

[Argenti he/him]

21 hours ago, Etedbert said:

It’s basically saying that pre-Catacendre when Preservation’s power isn’t fully held by a Vessel, a Mistborn could Ascend by being invested with enough of Preservation’s power through Lerasium.

 

It's not saying that; it's saying that the amount of Lerasium or (pure) Atium needed to become a savant in it is the same amount of Lerasium you need to ascend to the shard. Burning all the atium or lerasium is impossible without the consent of Sazed, all that godmetal needs to be made, and you could only make that much by the will of the shard.

Edited March 5 by Argenti

[Quantus he/him]

1 hour ago, Argenti said:

It's not saying that; it's saying that the amount of Lerasium or (pure) Atium needed to become a savant in it is teh same amount of Lerasium you need to ascend to the shard. Burning all the atium or lerasium is impossible without the consent of Sazed, all that godmetal needs to be made, and you could only make that much by the will of the shard.

Also consider the effect of Lerasium: it Connects you to the Shard, and that's basically it. It's not channeling Investiture into physical Force or Augmented Perception or any such overt Effect, it's creating the Channel itself.   Trying to gain Savantism (ie. a Spiritweb warped by massvie quantities of Investiture) by Connecting yourself to a Shard So HARD  it warps you outright doesnt feel like it will actually start working until the Connection is so big the Shard's investiture just starts spilling through, and that sort of realmic breakage seems to be where mini-ascensions begin if our example are typical.  

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

4 hours ago, Quantus said:

Also consider the effect of Lerasium: it Connects you to the Shard, and that's basically it. It's not channeling Investiture into physical Force or Augmented Perception or any such overt Effect, it's creating the Channel itself.   Trying to gain Savantism (ie. a Spiritweb warped by massvie quantities of Investiture) by Connecting yourself to a Shard So HARD  it warps you outright doesnt feel like it will actually start working until the Connection is so big the Shard's investiture just starts spilling through, and that sort of realmic breakage seems to be where mini-ascensions begin if our example are typical.  

Atium however is different. In era 1 is is actually an alloy of atium and electrum. That would mean that you could become a saviunt long before you mini ascend 

[Treamayne]

4 hours ago, Quantus said:

Also consider the effect of Lerasium: it Connects you to the Shard, and that's basically it. It's not channeling Investiture into physical Force or Augmented Perception or any such overt Effect, it's creating the Channel itself. 

Not entirely correct. Annotations to HoA Ch 38:

Spoiler

Brandon Sanderson (edited for length)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Preservation's Power

Regardless, if a person can get more Preservation into them, they become better Allomancers. Hence Elend becoming a Mistborn. Like all people, he had the potential within him—it was just too small of a potential to be awakened through normal means. That little jolt of Preservation's body, however, expanded and awakened his Allomancy.

As a tidbit, that was a side effect of what that bead of metal did. It wasn't the main purpose of the bead, and if another Allomancer were to burn it, it would do something else.

The Hero of Ages Annotations (Nov. 12, 2009)

 

6 hours ago, Etedbert said:

would they become an Avatar by being so heavily invested with the shard’s power? And if so, would they be an avatar of Preservation/Ruin, or of Harmony?

More likely they would become a Sliver (a person who has been warped by the power but does not currently hold a shard or portion of a shard). It would have to be a Sliver of whatever form was used to stretch their Spiritweb - and Saze could accomplish this much more easily by letting a person draw upon the mists (like Wax). Especially now that there are distinct P and R mists. 

Spoiler

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

Chapter Seventeen

The Mists Form

In writing this book, I had to nail down a few worldbuilding issues I'd been contemplating even before the first trilogy ended. What would happen to the mists, for instance, once Sazed took over and became Harmony?

The mists, obviously, are a big part of the series. It didn't make sense—either narratively or worldbuilding-wise—to lose them completely. However, they'd been created as an effect of Preservation trying to use his essence to fight against Ruin's destruction of the world. So . . . wouldn't they go away?

I decided that Sazed would still send them. They're part of the nature of the world now. To acknowledge what had happened, they wouldn't come every night any longer. But they would come. They were changed in that they are no longer simply the raw power of Preservation; they're now a part of Harmony—so they no longer pull away from Hemalurgy in the same way as they used to. They still have the odd effect of being able to power Allomancy. (And Feruchemy as well—if one knows how to do it.)

The mists are, in part, the raw power of creation. And when one is favored of Harmony, the mists have a greater effect than they might otherwise have. We'll see more of this later.

The Alloy of Law Annotations (Nov. 30, 2015)

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Chaos

Do all three Metallic Arts still exist after the events of the book? Are Allomancy and Hemalurgy slightly degenerated now that Ruin and Preservation are dead, or does Allomancy still draw upon Preservation's power (just held with Sazed now)?

Brandon Sanderson

Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy all work as they once did. However, now they are more directly affected by the presence or absence of the mists, which will slowly return to the world but not be of the extent they once were. (The mists are now an extent of Sazed's power, and where they roam, he is better able to influence things. There will also be two kinds of mists.) Note that in the future, Feruchemy powers will start to fracture and split, creating Feruchemical "Mistings."

Yes, this means that in the future series, it will be possible for a person to have one Allomantic power and one Feruchemical power. It will create for some very interesting mixing of powers.

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

 

 

[alder24]

I just add those two WoBs about Atium Savants:

Spoiler

17th Shard

If one were to become an atium savant could they see further into the future than normal?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

17th Shard Interview (Oct. 3, 2010)

 

Spoiler

Herowannabe

I recently picked up the Mistborn Adventure game and am loving it. I made a character who is a blind Mistborn because hey, I thought it would make for some interesting possibilities. As I understand Allomancy, he can hear/sense well enough to get around with Tin, plus even though he's blind he can still "see" steel lines (like the inquisitors), and I assume Atium would work the same way- that is, he could still "see" Atium shadows. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Brandon Sanderson

No, you're right. That works. He'd have to burn metals a LOT though. It might warp him a little.

/r/fantasy AMA 2013 (April 15, 2013)

So at least Atium (Atium-electrum alloy) you won't have the same consequences as with Lerasium. Lerasium grants you Connection to Preservation, that's why I think you can Ascend.

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)