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Hello everyone. I hope you're all doing well. So i was recently thinking about the proprieties of allomantic gold and its interactions with the cognitive realm. It seems likely that it lets someone see himself in the cognitive realm: it lets you see how you view yourself. Here's where I begin speculating: I'm thinking that if you burn gold and Duralumin at the same time you can fully access the cognitive realm and so travel to other places. This might be how a certain character went to a certain place after Secret History to help a certain people (I'm being vague because i don't know how to do spoiler posts). This might be a bit like opening a mini perpenducalitary (don't know how to write it) between the physical and cognitive realm like Brandon Sanderson said an Elsecaller did. Please post your thoughts on the subject.

So, I'm confused as to how the medallions work. How can a Nicrosil ferring reduce their Identity enough to make an unlocked Feruchemical nicrosil medallion? And other ferrings reduce their identity enough to add to it? Is it a matter of using Feruchemical aluminum? But then how does an Feruchemical nicrosil ferring use Feruchemical aluminum? Also, how can a non-Feruchemical nicrosil person tap the Feruchemical nicrosil, even if it's unlocked? Don't you still need to be able to tap Nicrosil in order to use it? Unlocked just means that someone else can use a metal mind that you created, it doesn't give you the ability to actually use that metal if it's not in your sDNA, right? Is Nicrosil special in that it allows anyone to use its Investiture?

I was going through the forums and looking at all of the theories about investiture, and was thinking about several things. First off, a ton of people(I feel) are getting the power of storing investiture wrong. I'm pretty sure it works(very basically) like this: Let's say you have a Twinborn, with F: Nicrosil, and A: Steel. He/She also has a Hemalurgic spike granting F: Aluminum. He/She decides that they are going to make one of those cool bracelet things that let others have their power. He/She Stores Aluminum, Then Stores Nicrosil into the Nicrosil part of the bracelet. That means that anyone who taps that(anyone can, apparently) Nicrosil will be granted the powers of F: Nicrosil and Aluminum, and A: Steel. Some people thought that Nicrosil gave any ability. Are they right? On another topic, do you remember when Allik said that it was impossible to make a bracelet with 4 powers? Based on what I'm thinking, that is because they need to get Hemalurgic spikes that give them those powers, and that having four puts them under Harmony's influence. So, what would happen if you were to get 16 Allomancers and 16 Feruchemists together and gave them one bracelet each that gave them F: Nicrosil and Aluminum, then had each of them try to store into one Nicrosil bracelet? Since all of their power is unbranded, would it make something like the bands of mourning, or would it not allow them to put all of their powers into one Nicrosil bracelet?

Hi guys Im new here but been floating through reading all the theories for a long time. Met Brandon years ago when he visited Melbourne, Australia and bombarded him with questions and really hooked the cosmere addiction deep so here I am. Wanted to run a question by you. Mistborn is stabbed by a shardblade. Now its been confirmed that you dont need to ingest a metal to burn it, so my theory is could the Mistborn flare the metal of the blade as it enters and essentially hurl himself into the spiritual realm like Elend did with his Atium/Duralinum? Essentially using a highly invested god-metal (could be wrong but Im fairly certain a shardblade could be counted as god-metal). Now I know the quantity of metal doesnt really work so lets just say its a shardblade rapier like Yasnah uses and only just the tip (hehehe). Just to avoid that argument.

Hi guys Im new here but been floating through reading all the theories for a long time. Met Brandon years ago when he visited Melbourne, Australia and bombarded him with questions and really hooked the cosmere addiction deep so here I am. Wanted to run a question by you. Mistborn is stabbed by a shardblade. Now its been confirmed that you dont need to ingest a metal to burn it, so my theory is could the Mistborn flare the metal of the blade as it enters and essentially hurl himself into the spiritual realm like Elend did with his Atium/Duralinum? Essentially using a highly invested god-metal (could be wrong but Im fairly certain a shardblade could be counted as god-metal). Now I know the quantity of metal doesnt really work so lets just say its a shardblade rapier like Yasnah uses and only just the tip (hehehe). Just to avoid that argument.

I work at a school and while at work I frequently find myself thinking "if only I could get these kids more interested in the subjects they are studying". Science for example is an exceptionally interesting subject that it seems some students just don't share my appreciation for. That's when I came up with an amazing idea. What if I burned brass and rioted their curiosity. Suddenly I'd have a classroom full of students who actually wanted to learn everything I needed to teach them. And if my classroom aid was a Soother they could be burning zinc in the back of the classroom, dampening their rambunctiousness...osity? So here's the game, If you could apply a single allomantic ability (i.e. you're a misting) to a job what do you think the best combos of allomantic abilities and jobs would be.

In The Well of Ascension we see Lerasium burned by Elend so that he becomes a Mistborn of extremely powerful Investiture. However, Brandon has said in his notes that this is simply a side effect of burning Lerasium, not the main effect. Now, I'm not sure if someone else made a topic on this already (I tried looking but couldn't find anything), but it seems fairly obvious to me what that function is. When burned, Lerasium should be able to be used in place of any allomantic metal reserve (i.e. I could burn Lerasium as a mistborn and, if I chose, get extra strength, speed, and balance as if I were burning very pure allomantic pewter). Here is my evidence... Lerasium is related to Preservation and is thus linked to Allomancy. Its opposite, Atium, is related to Ruin and Hemalurgy. So, if we see how Atium acts in Hemalurgy, it may give us a clue about how Lerasium acts in Allomancy. As a Hemalurgic spike, Atium steals any attribute/Investiture, so Lerasium in my mind should at likewise. Throughout the original Mistborn trilogy, Vin draws in the mists, the gaseous form of Lerasium, and burns them for super heightened Allomantic strength, such as when her Allomantic steel power can see the Lord Rulers bands even though they are heavily invested (and maybe pierce his skin? I don't remember...). However, toward the end of Hero of Ages, Vin draws the mists in her fight against Marsh and burns Lerasium in this way, gaining other allomantic powers by only burning the mists. I don't have a physical copy of the novel, so I can't quote directly from the book, but that is how I remember that scene happening. However, this brings up another question. If Atium and Lerasium both perform all functions within their respective systems, can Harmonium do the same within Feruchemy, storing and tapping any attribute (that can be stored and tapped through other metals)? Harmonium is ettmetal, so it may be difficult to keep a Harmonium metalmind from exploding, making this theory unlikely, but I believe it needed to be discussed. Again, I don't know if someone else came to this conclusion already, I assumed this was common knowledge until I could not find anything on it.

pretty self-explanatory

This is going to be a bit dense so be warned but I believe there may possibly be a very powerful application of bendalloy and even cadmium in combat for a mistborn that has not yet been explored. Pulsers and Sliders have the powerful ability to dilate time by burning there respective metals. We are talking time dilation to massive degrees. However there have been limitations shown thus far that prevent these abilities from being used practically in combat, these few limitations being: The user is affected by there own ability, for Pulsers this means that their time is slower like everyone elses The user cannot leave the bubble, preventing them from throwing down a cadmium (slow mo) bubble as a trap for example Any objects that come into contact with the "membrane" of the bubble is affected in adverse ways (usually disorienting people and refracting the trajectory of projectiles), preventing those within the bubble to interact with those outside and vice versa The third point is described in the mistborn adventure game as: It can assumed that this current is random and constantly changing based on the unpredictable ways in which objects are cast askew With that in mind, this third point may be exploitable. So far we have only seen how physical objects interact with the membrane, but what if the thing passing through a membrane is more of a force, an allomantic force to be more specific? For example what if a mistborn within a bendalloy bubble tried to pull on a metal outside of their cast bubble. Mistborns can only pull metal so if the membrane was to interfere with the force it is possible that the mistborn would be pulling something that is not metallic, since that is not possible I have absolutely no clue what could happen if it is affected by the membranes "current" On the other hand if this theory is correct and that only physical objects are affected by the membranes "current" then the allomantic force being acted upon the metal outside of the bubble could be increased exponentially! To put numbers to it, say for instance a mistborn cast a bendalloy bubble that dilated time by a factor of 10. This means he/she is experience 10x more time than those outside the bubble, every 10 seconds to him/her is one second to those outside. If the mistborn is able to enact say 100 newtons of pulling force per second on a metal, then this would translate to 100 newtons per 0.1 seconds on a metal outside of the bendalloy bubble (as their time is much faster and he/she can apply 10 seconds worth of force from within the bubble per one second of time outside of the bubble) This would mean that the allomancer in question could theoretically apply 10x as much force to the object per second as they were able to before! With this in mind this is not free power, the allomancer in question is burning metal at 10x the theoretical rate to do so, burning metal for 10 seconds for every one second of time experienced outside of the bubble The applications for this would be mind boggling, imagine if you will a coinshot within a bendalloy bubble, pushing on an object outside! And we thought crashers could do some serious damage! The same effect could be theoretically achieved by an outsider trying to influence metals inside of a cadmium bubble. Whether you agree or disagree all thoughts are welcome (as all are part of the fundamental process of the scientific method), I hope you enjoyed the theory, and I can't wait to hear your opinions!

I'm just going to cut straight to the point. Does being inside a speed bubble affect emotional allomancy? Or how? I can't remember if this was answered in Era II, so if someone knows...

Every Scadrian, being of Preservation and Ruin, has some tiny theoretical latent potential ("seeds") in the Metallic Arts: But for most people, this is never enough to actually manifest (except possibly if the Mists get involved). For those whose potential is strong enough, though, Snapping is possible. I'd suggest that every Scadrian specifically has some degree of Allomantic potential in each metal. Usually, when someone Snaps, damage to their soul creates a "crack" allowing the power of Preservation to flow through - turning the latent potential into an actual ability. Thus, probably, a person has (by random chance - there are Allomantic bloodlines, but there don't seem to be specific lines of Coinshots or Thugs or Soothers) one metal's potential just slightly stronger than the others. At the moment of Snapping, that "point in the spiritweb" hits its critical threshold and activates first - and all the power flows through it, so none of the other metals' points activate. It's like pouring water into a cup with a hole in the bottom, so it flows out as quickly as in. In very rare cases, though, there's just so much Preservation coming through that that first point can't use it up, can't keep up with the inflow. In that case it's like using a garden hose to fill a cup with a pinhole in the bottom - the water can't get out fast enough, and just sloshes around. Then all the metals' points are pushed past the critical threshold, and they all activate practically simultaneously - and the person becomes a full Mistborn. (Savantism, then, is the widening of that "pinhole" by pushing too much water - Preservation power/Investiture - through it.) Originally, it seems that Feruchemy always came with the full set of metals. This makes sense, since Feruchemy doesn't draw on an external source of power and doesn't involve a Snapping event. But in Era 2, the spiritual DNA has mixed, and the Feruchemy access mechanism has gotten "stuck to" and largely overridden by the Allomancy one, creating Ferrings.

I was a bit surprised I hadn't already found a thread talking about this, to be honest. If it exists, please let me know. With that out of the way, Mistborn: Secret History has allomantic symbols at the beginning of every "part," as well as every chapter. Except it doesn't. The ones on the chapter heads are what you would expect, symbols tied to one of the sixteen metals on our mystical pie chart of allomancy. The parts are a little different, though. Two of them (parts 3 and 4) are attached to Lerasium and Atium, respectively. The other four (cover/6, 1, 2, and 5) are completely unknown to me. So let's talk about those, shall we? [Cover/6+1]I don't have a whole lot to say about the symbols on the inside cover and also part six or part one of SH, except to say that they're both unusually shaped, as allomantic symbols go. The cover/6 has two lines not pierced by a spike, and One has a spike not attatched to a line, as well as five spikes in total. All three attributes are seen on only one other symbol (Lerasium has an unconnected line, duralumin five spikes, and Copper an unconnected spike). I've assumed for a while that the spikes and lines are a hemalurgic map in one way or another, but I can't remember if there's a WoB on that. I can't make head or tail of these two, though I'm fairly certain they're important somehow. [2]Moving on, Two has easily the strangest design of the set, so much so it looks like something else entirely. 3 lines, stacked on top of each other evenly, and as many as sixteen spikes. I say "as many as" because, unlike most allomantic symbols, the majority of the "heads" of the spikes are not in view. Only six could be considered visible, and they all come to the same point, so it's still difficult to tell... there could be a dot in the middle for all I know. Considering this part is named Well, this could simply be a symbol of the Well itself. The sixteen spikes, then, could be a representation of allomancy itself. We could even claim, since all of the spikes face the center, but many touch only the outermost circle, that the three lines represent the three planes of existence. The ones reaching toward the center, therefore, would be the metals whose application reaches beyond the mere physical. This may be reading too much into it, but I'll still wager that the existence of exactly sixteen spikes is intentional. [5]And that brings us to number five. Five features a single spike, two lines, and four dots. Another oddity- all 18 known allomantic symbols (16 plus Atium and Lerasium) have exactly one dot, no more, no less. This applies to the cover/6 and One as well, though Two is still difficult to tell. If we go back to my assumption that these symbols are hemalurgic maps of some kind, I had assumed that the dot represented the head, the lines some part of the human body. This new symbol is a bit perplexing to me after that. Also strange, every line has been a fragment of a circle. Usually about 3/4ths of it, though there were exceptions. The lines in Five seem to be to an oval, much thinner on the axis the spike is placed through, and much longer on the perpendicular. I... really can't make head nor tail of this one. I've wondered if Five is tied to Autonomy, one way or another (taking Autonomy's presence, though never directly confirmed in AU, as a given in Scadrial), but it's a bit of a stretch. Autonomy makes no overt moves in SH at all, in part 5 or elsewhere, unlike parts 3 and 4 which very much starred Ati and Leras. The other possibility is, of course, that it's the theoretical hemalurgic map that would let Kell return to the physical plane. TL;DR: No clue about cover/6 and 1st part symbols, 2 might be symbol of the Well or allomancy itself, 3 is Atium, 4 is Lerasium, 5 might be Autonomy's metal or Kell's unique, completely unproven hemalurgy, or somthing else entirely. I think that's about all. That one really got long on me. Anyway, thoughts? Am I reading too much into it? Do you have your own theories to share? EDIT: added tl;dr EDIT EDIT: added part six (same as cover (inside flap)) Also, just remembered the epilogue has nothing but a single spike for an allomantic sybmol... seems ominous. LAST EDIT I PROMISE: Apparently it goes like this: 1. Malatium (makes sense, given context) 2. Kredik Shaw (makes sense) 3. Atium (makes sense) 4. Lerasium (makes sense) 5. Steel Alphabetized Aon Ire (makes sense, and super cool) 6. Ettmetal (makes sense) Epilogue: Hemalurgy foreshadowing I guess? Thanks to Eki, WeiryWriter, and The One Who Connects for the info!

Someone has probably done this before, but I figured I'd create a list of all the (non-godmetal) metals that can be used for Allomancy/Feruchemy and their uses. Not all of us can store all that information in their heads (I think the ones that can use Copperminds)! Metal - Allomantic Use - Feruchemical Use Steel - Pushes on nearby metals - Stores physical speed Iron - Pulls on nearby metals - Stores physical weight Pewter - Increases physical abilities - Stores physical strength Tin - Increases senses - Stores senses Zinc - Enflames (riots) emotions - Stores mental speed Brass - Dampens (soothes) emotions - Stores warmth Copper - Hides allomantic pulses (and protects user's emotions from allomantic meddling) - Stores memories Bronze - Can hear allomantic pulses - Stores wakefulness Duralumin - Enhances current metal burned - Stores spiritual connection Aluminum - Wipes internal allomantic reserves (may also heal the withering inflicted by a Threnodite shade) - Stores identity Nicrosil - Enhances burn of target - Stores investiture Chromium - Wipes internal allomantic reserves of target - Stores luck Gold - Reveals past self (or possible past selves) of the person burning it - Stores health Electrum - Reveals possible futures of the person burning it (also counters atium) - Stores determination Cadmium - Slows down time in a bubble around the allomancer - Stores breath (the air kind, not the investiture kind) Bendalloy - Speeds up time in a bubble around the allomancer - Stores energy Allomantic Metal Classifications: External Physical Metals: Steel, Iron Internal Physical Metals: Pewter, Tin External Mental Metals: Zinc, Brass Internal Mental Metals: Copper, Bronze External Enhancement Metals: Nicrosil, Chromium Internal Enhancement Metals: Duralumin, Aluminum External Temporal Metals: Cadmium, Bendalloy Internal Temporal Metals: Gold, Electrum Pushing Metals: Alloys (Steel, Pewter, Brass, Bronze, Nicrosil, Duralumin, Bendalloy, Electrum) Pulling Metals: Non-Alloys (Iron, Tin, Zinc, Copper, Chromium, Aluminum, Cadmium, Gold) Feruchemical Metal Classifications: Physical Metals: Steel, Iron, Pewter, Tin Cognitive Metals: Zinc, Brass, Copper, Bronze Spiritual Metals: Duralumin, Aluminum, Nicrosil, Chromium Hybrid Metals: Gold, Electrum, Cadmium, Bendalloy For more detailed explanations of how these things work, refer to either the Coppermind Wiki or a Mistborn Novel (Bands of Mourning has a handy explanation at the back)

I know that it is widely accepted that the power of Allomancy comes from Preservation. This makes sense in that in order to become an Allomancer you must either ingest, or be a descendant from someone who has ingested, Lerasium. This idea is given further weight by the fact that Preservation gave a bit of himself in order to make humans more preservation minded. However, the nature of the shards of Preservation and Ruin, and their combination in Harmony, reject this idea. The easiest example of this is Ruin and his magic of Hemalurgy, power is taken and the result is less than before. Mathematically put, if you have starting power X and received power Y you would say that X > Y. In Feruchemy you give power to receive it back when needed, while in Allomancy you expend power, by burning metal, giving you the the variable Z for expended power. Mathematically put, Feruchemy would be X = Y and Allomancy would be modeled X + Z < Y. When you compare these mathematical breakdowns of Scadrial's magic systems to the shards present their, a different reality becomes apparent. With Feruchemy being the only magic system involving the preserving of power, it must be of Preservation. Whereas Allomancy involves the sacrificing of some power in order to gain more, implying it is of Harmony or, more accurately, a balance of the powers of Ruin and Preservation. This idea is given further credit by the fact that even though Preservation gave up some of his power to humans, the only people who cared about preservation as an attribute were the Terrismen, while people in other areas appear to have had a stronger tie to Ruin in their hearts, regardless of the presence of Preservation's power. With that in mind, the ingesting of Lerasium would increase the person's devotion to Preservation, allowing for an equal devotion to both shards, as well as an amount of power that comes directly from a shard. Thanks for looking at my theory. If you can show me any place where Brandon Sanderson has said anything that proves me wrong, please add a link in your post.

Just wanted to pose a few questions about the "Allomantic Grenades", or the Ettmetal cubes that could simulate Allomancy (and Feruchemy). First, when the cube is first used, it is "Invested" with Chromium Allomancy, draining Wax's stores. However, I noticed that the cube does not touch Wax, as would be necessary with a Leecher. So why does it work? Later, when Wax is experimenting with it, the cube uses steel Allomancy as a filter for the power of the Ettmetal, but the cube somehow has the pushing power to move Wayne's metal belt and Wax's shotgun. Does the cube then replicate Wax's push force instead of using its own mass? Also, if it were using steel Allomancy wouldn't it be pushed out of Wayne's hand? If it does replicate Wax's push, could he increase his weight, then charge the cube with steel Allomancy, giving it a greater push force? Though it does not specifically mention the cube, it is probably a similar device, but the Set gets the ship to store its own weight so that it is lighter and easier for the ship to take off. There are a lot of implications here. Is the weight of the ship stored in a certain place? If the device is started in the same way by performing the Feruchemy, and could you use the device to make the ship heavier as well, or only if you had previously stored the ship's weight? Could someone store the ship's Identity then, store weight, creating an Identity-less metalmind of the ship's weight that the person could then use? If the ship can store weight, how would other things, such as health work with the ship? This topic is mostly to spur conversation and the flow of ideas about these curious devices, so let me know what you think...

Since it is about a cross-over of powers, figure it belongs here.... Looking through the Provo Q&A on Theoryland, spotted these two beasties: and then this: So, who else thinks that the latter answer also applies to the former question?

Hi guys, I just recived some interesting WoB from Brandon in his Oathbringer's update, I wanted to post them under the already opened topic in Stormlight's subforum...But some of this are from books other than Stormlight, therefore I think it's better to put them here (some mod may change or delete it, if I am wrong). Maybe a better format is required: Scadrial: Q: Can a Misting hurt himself burning the wrong metals or a bad alloy ? A: Not really, but they can swallow something they can't burn and end up with metal poisoning. Kind of similar. Q: Thanks for the answers...So we may tell that a Misting's Allomancy is "safer" than a Mistborn's one. Maybe because it's the original/natural way how Allomancy manifest itself (without godlike interferences) A: Sure, you could potentially say that. You can still make yourself sick, though, so I'm not sure. I guess it comes down to your definition of "hurt." But I'd call it safer, yes. Q: When someone Ascended with the Well, if He don't use the power and neither release it...Would He keep his status for long time ? A: No, unfortunately. Realmatic mechanisms: Q: Once someone refuses the call of the Beyond, may it change idea later ? (and reach the Beyond) Or is a one shot possibility ? A: It may change later Cosmere Timeline: Q: What is the event showed in the books, that are earlier in the Cosmere's Timeline ? (just to understand if WoK's prologue is before or after Elantris's event) A: I believe WoK prologue is before everything else you've seen. Some of the Dalinar flashbacks show scenes pretty early as well.

I was going through my usually bought of theorizing when I saw something that jiggered a switch regarding feruchemical Iron. A little bit of searching from memory and some pieces came together. An Alcubierre drive is a theoretical FTL drive. An Alcubierre drive works by creating a field that displaces energy-density to a negative value in front of the ship into a positive one in the back of a ship. It's not actually faster than light travel, rather it is effectively faster than light, as the negative energy-density would mean that it compresses space-time in front of it and expands it behind it. I think of it like a space-time rubber band flick, except not like that at all. Now, I'm no physicist, but we happen to have the ability to make change the energy-density of things, sort of. We have Feruchemical weight. Feruchemical weight is in the physical block, so it actually changes some physical property of mass. It also has wonky physics. So, this is not a theory that will go into great depth at this time, but the premise is: Theory: Obvious problems are obvious: Can we make feruchemical devices? Can they transfer the mass fast enough? Does exotic matter (negative mass) exist in the cosmere? Would an Alcubierre drive even work? We won't know until much later, but I think this is potentially a valid line of questioning into allomantic FTL travel. It has the advantage of being very simple, of being rooted in real world physics to an extent, it's complex enough mathematically not to be discovered until the future (for Scadrians), it is effectively simple and elegant to implement in design, if not in detail. The core difficulties it faces all seem probable to be overcome when more information is available. Come n' give this theory hell, Kurk.

In another topic we asked if a Misting may burn other metals (of course he can't obtain any power from them) or sense them as source of power at all. There talks made me think a lot about the Metallic Arts (and when I will find the time I want to write a complete topic about) but today I will talk only of the Misting's Allomancy alone. I asked this to Peter Ahlstrom (https://twitter.com/PeterAhlstrom/status/725031315863658497) and I recive this answer: Then I got no other answer, I waited for some days hoping in a new reply but nothing. Anyway also if He didn't explicit answer, He seems to me imply that a Misting can't sense any other metal and probably neither a bad alloy of his own metal. This made me think that Misting's Allomancy is protected by an "out of parameters" use. This is more in-line with Preservation's Power and I think it's because Allomancy as a Magic System spawned as "misting only" magic. The exsistence of Mistborns (and probably Full Feruchemist, but here we know nothing) is the result of some Allomancy's Hacking (we know for example the overwriting effect of Lerasium) or other aberations that somehow happen in the popolation (the same mutation that happens also in the real world....but without the Superpowers). In the end Preservation may be created the whole Mistborn concept as a tool for his masterplan aganist Ruin, pushing the allomancy to its limit. Mistborn are more "experimental Allomancer" they may try to burn everything with the hope to obtain some magical effect (I will be no surprise if they are capable of burning other than metal Invested's substances gaining some magical effect) and they can't harm themself with their power. Any thought about ? PS: We have some WoB-like words to refer as Peter's quotes ?

Hi all, so this is a spin-off of the Nicrosil Feruchemy and the Bands topic. But once I got writing and thinking I decided to flesh it out. I intend to flesh this out even more, so if you see me edit stuff in, be not surprised. In this thread I examine how allomantic power in the context of steelpushing is majorly dependent on two things; weight and allomantic power. Further, I give insight into the nature of power and sensitivity. Weight determines who moves, as well as how much, and allomantic strength is almost a measure of how much this rule can be violated; it also provides an extra amount of power in addition to one's weight, but it also seems to determine sensitivity. Steelpushing: Weights and Anchors Now, we all ought to know that weight is vital in steelpushing; it is weight manipulation that makes a lot of Wax's cooler feats possible and we see examples in pretty much every book. However, it isn't just about the weight of the allomancer, but the size or weight of the anchor as well. Now, if you're short on time, suffice it to say that a heavy anchor that's high in metal is better as it allows for a longer push. Now, we see this as early as chapter 1, page 32 of the Alloy of Law where Wax notes, whilst cruising the city, This also states more metal is better, which is also implied on chapter 1, page 34, of the Alloy of Law. It is worth noting that this again notes it may not just be weight, but metal mass that is particularly important for an anchor. As we know, larger anchors have thicker lines. As one approaches a metal the line becomes brighter, and as one leaves it becomes fainter. The thicker the line, the more enduring the anchor the object tends to be. It is notable that Kelsier also uses an ingot to train Vin in jumping the city wall of Luthadel, in The Final Empire chapter 8 page 147, This would seem unnecessary if a mere coin was enough. Indeed, So, weight determines who moves, and quality of anchor determines how far one can move, by determining the time extent of the push. A bigger, more metallic anchor is better and will allow longer sustained motion whilst a smaller anchor allows shorter flight. Allomantic Strength and Pushing We're introduced to the notion of allomantic strength early on with Vin, who is abnormal in her high strength. But before we compare between people, it helps to consider burn rates with a single person. Take Vin. She is capable of burning her metal and extracting a given amount of power. She may also flare it; flaring a metal allows her to draw more strength from her metal, but at the cost of a faster rate of consumption. So, all else equal, Vin is capable of drawing more strength from her metals at a cost of reduced burntime. Now take Kelsier and Vin. Both can burn the same metal, say steel, but they have different burn rates. This burn rate is a result of spiritual DNA and the more allomantic sDNA, the faster the burn, and consequently the more power at any given time. It is explicit as per WoB (thanks and full credit to Yata) that a stronger allomancer is one who burns their metals faster. But what does 'more powerful' mean? What is greater allomantic strength? Essentially, this means stronger (more force) pushes and pulls from a given anchor, as well as obvious consequences for the other metals. We see this in The Final Empire, chapter 9, page 174 and Kelsier comments on it on page 182. Particularly relevant is that Kelsier is bigger than Vin, and he does end up winning, but he still feels it -more than he otherwise should. Strength allows a degree of freedom. This is a relatively slight difference, it's less conclusive than we'd like but it is useful for demonstrating the point, so let's go with another more drastic example. We further see this with Elend in Hero of Ages, chapter 3, page 32. So right here we see that that Elend only stumbles -he's not thrown away- and the Inquisitor is tossed away. Essentially, this demonstrates that allomantic strength not only allows one to effect someone else more than it should, but in the case of a Pushing match it allows the stronger party to suffer less damage. It violates the weight determines what moves (and how much) rule. Or more accurately, the greater the difference in strength, the less the difference in weight matters. But What About Sensitivity In the interests of being fair, I've heard this before, most recently by SpoolofWhool but in the interests of being honest, I'd also noted this myself. Basically, it is my thoughts that a stronger allomancer isn't just stronger, but is also more sensitive. This is implied with Vin's training with Marsh (she's not just strong, but hemalurgically gifted) where she can already feel the direction of the metals burn. But there's more, there's a scene in Shadows of Self, chapter 20, page 308 where Wax is alone in the dark with TenSoon and by flaring his metals he can only just see the lines. Better though, in the Bands of Mourning, page 258, Wax notes (of Wayne's new identity-less metalmind) In Conclusion (or TLDR) Weight of anchors matters for push length, and power in some cases. Greater strength of a allomancer allows more Pushing force given the same anchor. Greater strength alos seems to grant greater sensitivity. Still to come; Cleanup, Anchor quality, Savantism, Nicrosil and stored allomancy, Soul interference and allomantic power, Wax and Vin at LORD RULER (+) power. And more!

So, can I post a theory here, or what? (Just warning, like 60% of this is gonna be spoilers for Bands of Mourning so go read it if you haven't.) So everyone- let's talk about the Bands. Specifically the nicrosil portion. I think we can figure out what it does from watching Wax and Marasi use them. So when Wax takes the Bands, he can punch through pure rock with just allomancy alone, and drags an airship out of the sky. This obviously isn't normal allomancy or duralumin enhanced allomancy. We know that because marasi gets all of the metals off the guards. There wouldn't have been any duralumin. It's completely useless if you're just a misting. So he's doing all of that with just steel and iron which should be impossible- but wait! WoB is here to save the day! (I don't actually have this WoB but pshhh who needs correctly cited sources.) So I remember reading somewhere that Sanderson built into the magic systems of scadrial ways to enhance each other- allomancy boosts feruchemy through compounding, and feruchemy boosts allomancy by uuh.... the WoB didn't really say. But there has to be some way cuz the great Sanderson said so. So I looked through the metals chart and the only metal that really fits isn't nicrosil- which stores investiture (any cosmere magic). So we can tell how it works from Wax's point of view! Obviously it can give you the ability to burn metals or tap them (see: Wax burning iron or tapping zinc) but it can also affect how much power you can squeeze out of metal in allomancy. So that's how nicrosil feruchemy works! Spend time with weakened investiture (presumably) and you can tap to make it stronger. (Am I the only one that thinks coinshot-soulbearers would be terrifying? They would shred everything or throw tanks!) Any corrections or anything?

I'm kind of curious as to why and when ironpulls/steelpushes can be blocked by having the affected metal in one's body. Here are a few questions that I haven't been able to find a definite answer for: Are pushes on metals inside your own body resisted? Are pushes on metals inside a dead body resisted? If you can push on metals inside a dead body, exactly when is the body considered dead? Is it about blood flow, like hemalurgy? Or some other way of detecting death besides supernaturally? For example, BoM spoiler, Are pushes on metals inside a frog or other "normal" animal resisted? Are pushes on metals inside an amputated limb resisted? Are pushes on metals inside someone not from Scadrial resisted? EDIT: Changed "Can you push..." to "Are pushes on...resisted" to clarify meaning. I understand that with enough power these barriers can be overcome, I'm merely interested whether these count as the same "barrier" as a living person does.

I know this was likely discussed many times over the last 12 years but has anyone else noticed that all of the Symbols for the metallic arts have cross lines and at least in the more modern depictions are stylized to look like spikes? i realize this is a throwback to the Inquisitors and the Steel Ministry BUT is it possible that these cross lines could also indicate the Hemaluric bind points for those particular metals? I am going to dig into the remainder of the symbols and see if i can come up with a more intact theory here but i figured i figured i better check and find out if this is already trod ground.