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In mistborn era 1 we learnt how if an allomancer burns a metal to much they become essentially addicted and its effects can kind of... leech, I guess?... in to there normal life. We know what would basically happen if you become a bronze or tin savant. But what about other savants, gold, electrum, cadmium, bendalloy, chromium, aluminum???

basic question. different people have different spiritwebs (unique and all). hemalurgy steals bits of the spiritweb. savants have different and somewhat warped spiritwebs in comparison to normal allomancers. if you spike a savant, do you get savant level abilities when you use that spike?

I'm not sure if this has been confirmed, but I've been thinking about the possibility of excessive surgebinding having side effects. On Scadrial, Allomantic savants are, while somewhat rare, not difficult to create. There are already signs that stormlight could be addictive, and I was thinking that if it was possible to gather enough stormlight to be constantly infused for a long period of time they could become not only addicted but perhaps stretch their bodies like an allomancer who flared their metals for too long. If this is possible, what could the effects be? Perhaps become more susceptible to stormlight, and be able to hold it longer? Be able too draw out more power with less infusion? In White Sand, overusing their power increased it greatly, and in Mistborn, it did so as well. Allomantic savants have drawbacks, as shown by Spook in the second and third books, but it definitely increased his power. There's plenty of examples to be found all over the cosmere, and I want to know what it might do to a surgebinder.

Not sure if any of these questions have answers, but I think they are still worth discussing. 1) Is it possible to become a Feruchemical Savant? What exactly does this entail? Would they be more efficient in their tapping/filling? Would they be able to more precisely tap/fill their metalminds? 2) Is it possible to become a "Hemalurgic Savant"? Meaning that the person's soul has fused with the stolen pices to the point it no longer considers them stolen? Would the Hemalurgic spikes still be required or could they be removed? 2B) If attributes were stolen from someone who was storing their identity, would it be possible to impart that attribute to someone without the need for the spike to stay in their body? Extrem case: 2C) If attributes were stolen from someone who was actively tapping the identity of the person who was to receive(is it even possible to tap someone else's identity?), would the continued presence of the Hemalurgic spike still be necessary? 3) If a Savant filled a nicrosil investiture metalmind(one that anyone could tap) with their more powerful allomancy(thinking about Spook's tin), would the person tapping said metalmind become a Savant as long as they were tapping it?

I apologize if this if this topic has already been discussed, but nothing came up in the search that quite matched this thought. Savants and Savantism have become a bit of a hot topic lately, as there has been much discussion about them, more so now after the Ad Astra reading. While occurrences of Savantism are quite rare in the Cosmere, we do get a skewed view on them, as we are more likely to see them around the big events that tend to be central to Cosmere stories. As a result, I wanted to take a look at our known Savants in the Cosmere, and get the thoughts of the minds on here, with a bit more of a focus on the Savants who have viewpoints. The focus is only because we get to see the side effects of Savantism more if we can be in the character's head. The reason for this is that I believe that Savantism is not a single state, but a spectrum, where the effects become more pronounced the longer and more deeply the user succumbs to the Savantism. Similar to drug use, I suppose. You can have drug users that are purely recreational. Then you have the habitual users, who would be analogous to Savants. They range from minor addiction to constant use. And the effects of addiction/constant use become more pronounced with time. So here is my list of known/suspected Savants that we have encountered: The Lord Ruler - After a thousand years, he was pretty much a Savant for everything. We do not have any perspectives from his point of view, so he won't be mentioned much more. Savant for Centuries. Jedal "Lestibournes" "Spook" - Was temporarily a tin Savant before Harmony cured him and made him a full Mistborn. Had reached a state of constant tin use, was starting to see major physical symptoms in his senses, after about a year of Savantism. Unknown if continued constant use would have led to CR bleed through, would be interesting to explore with the enhanced senses. Savant for approximately a year. Kaza, the Soulcaster - She has the most significant symptoms we have had the opportunity to witness. Much of it may be due to (Spoiler below). Physical manifestations as her body is transforming, mental changes as she is unable to relate to the mental/emotional state of people around her. Losing her tether to her mortal form. Some signs of CR bleed through. Savant for at least 30-40 years (estimated). Vasher, the Scholar - I'm hesitant to include him on this list. But after so many years as a Returned Awakener, and having held God King level Breaths at least once, I feel safe listing him as a Savant for awakening. Especially given how easily he awakened in the scenes we saw for him. He experimented with Breath, and created new commands, and lives off of Investiture. And he has been using Stormlight for some time now. Cannot think of any evidence of symptoms of his Savantism, other than the facility with Awakening. But that could be argued to be a result of his research. At the same time, it was implied that he was awakening more easily than he should have been at his Breath levels. His ability to Command was extrememly impressive. He did have some interesting personality quirks and asocial tendencies, especially when compared to Denth who was not as much of an Awakener that we know of. But we cannot confirm if this was just his personality, or a mental symptom of his Savantism. We do not have an exact age for him, but I would hazard Savant(?) for at least three centuries. Miles Dagouter - Gold Savant, probably. We do not have much from Miles Hundredlives perspective. What we did see was that he had lost the ability to feel or be affected by pain. We also saw that he was frequently experiencing life as both his current outlaw self and his former lawman self simultaneously - along with intense self-loathing as both of them hate each other. While intensely bizarre, that could have led to some interesting mental and CR insights into Savantism if we'd seen more from his perspective. Sadly, we do not get to see more. Savant for 20-30years, estimated. Pre-Inquisitor Marsh - Bronze Savant, probably. As we know most Seekers become Savants, we can assume that Marsh was likely a savant for most of his adult life. We don't get to see much of this, except for his training with Vin, and most of that pertains directly to Allomancy. We don't get to see any real symptoms of Savantism beyond his extreme skill at seeking. Inquisitor Marsh can't really be discussed, because although he is definitely a Savant in a few areas, the Hemalurgy messes up his Spirit Web so much that the data is kinda corrupted. Savant for most of his adult, human life. Edgard "Breeze" Ladrian - Brass Savant. Other than being insanely good at manipulating and Soothing people, as well as his penchant for vocalizing when focusing, we don't have much. His Soothing may be compulsive at this point, as we see in the Well of Ascension Seige of Luthadel, but we never get a Breeze perspective. Savant for most of his adult life. Waxillium "Wax" Ladrain - Steel Savant. Wax has his steel bubble that affects everything except his stuff. He is a weird case, as he has no drawbacks. I know Brandon is not entirely happy with this, and is thinking of how he will address it in the future. Savantism achieved during his time in the Roughs. Unfortunately, most of our examples of Savants are from Scadrial, so it is unwise to apply universal statements before we get to see more. But I get the feeling that a mix of exposure and length of time as a Savant affect the magnitude of the symptoms. Kaza is probably the best instance of late stage Savantism that we get, as well as Miles. We do have some examples of early stages of it as well, Spook. I also know I'm doing a crap job of stating a point - this would fail any English class on all conceivable levels. Not my best writing, by far, a result of trying to write at work, while not focusing entirely on what I'm doing, or having time to review and make sure I'm not repeating myself. The point was, no one seems to express Savantism exactly the same way. But we do see some physical or mental symptoms in most of them, the magnitude of which seem to be linked to how habitual the individuals listed use their power. And some of it, Kaza and Miles specifically, may bleed through into the CR a bit. I would assume Spook would have done the same at some point. Does anyone have other examples of Savants that I missed? Or contest my presumed Savants. Or have Cosmere wide Savantism thoughts to add?

Here's a very short theory for you. I've always just accepted that Allomantic savants are a thing that can exist, but this recent quote, I feel, directly explains the mechanism for how savants happen. Burning metals makes an Investiture: In Alloy, in the thing about the Three Metallic Arts in the Ars Arcanum, it says: So it seems to me that if you constantly flared your metals and constantly having this Investiture running, then eventually that Investiture would begin to warp and change you. That's exactly what we see happening in savants. Nothing major, but I thought it was an interesting observation.

Hey guys, my second post, so sorry if this has been said before. Do we have any evidence at all that you could be a savant without using an allomantic power? For example, could one become a Stormlight savant if they depend on it for too long?