The Movement of Metallic Compounds in Allomancy

[Odium's_Shard]

Ok, here's the theory: Basic summary - Allomancy actually can ONLY Push and Pull on metals, just in different ways to simulate unique effects, such as Sliding and Rioting!

Since all cells technically contain traces of metallic compounds like iron in the blood, etc., do you think that ALL uses of Allomancy in fact only affect metals? So (here comes the crazy theory):

Iron- Literally pulls on large sources of metals (ie coins).

Steel- Literally pushes on large sources of metals (ie coins).

Zinc- Pulls on the small metallic compounds within the blood, which makes neurotransmitting hormones to certain areas of the body reach faster and more frequently, increasing the 'feeling' of that emotion.

Brass- Pushes on the small metallic compounds within the body, making the neurotransmitting hormones move slower and dulls the 'feeling' (over a period of time/number of hormones received) of that emotion.

Tin - Pulls on the compounds within the body that have metallic traces that lead neurotransmitters to the brains from the sense perceptor, making them faster/more frequent and improving the use of the senses.

Pewter- Pushes on the compounds within the body that have metallic traces that add to bone structure, muscle strength, and blood clotting and healing, making the processes more apparent/faster.

Copper - Pulls on the electrical impulses that eminate from our body following the increasing effects of the other metals, keeping them, and others', inside the 'bubble'.

Bronze - Pushes of the compounds in electro-receptors arond the body, making them able to detect the fainter electric impulses of Allomantic processes.

(temporal is where it begins to degenerate)

Gold - Pulls on the memory receptors in the brain to render images across the mind of the 'past' and also pulls electrical speed in the brain to maximum, enabling you to foresee events that may have happened following registered events of the past you are 'viewing'.

Electrum - The same except it Pushes the memories into the future, however also Pushes away the mental speed (electrotransmitters contain base metals) necessary to understand the information presented to you.

Cadmium - Pulls on metallic compounds in Space plane, causing a stretch of Time in the area of influence.

Bendalloy - Pushes on metallic compounds in Space plane, causing a pressure of Time in the area of influence.

Chromium - Pulls on another's mental circuits (and their metallic compounds, etc) to forge an instruction to 'burn away' or drain (pull away).

Nicrosil - Pushes on another's mental circuits to forge an instruction to 'flare' or Push everything away in one burst.

Aluminium - Pulls on all the metals in your stomach to burn them all away, as if the mental command had been given in an instant.

Duralumin - Pushes on all the metals you're burning in order to flare them all away, unlocking the potential of the metal by breaking its compounds by sudden force, releasing the power of E=MC^2.

It is very haphazard. Please help me to shape it, disown it, praise it, or disdain me for the mere suggestion of it! All feedback on my crazy theories are welcome. This is the best explanation for the 'physics' based magic systems that we see in Mistborn other than 'the power of Creation unlocked in a specific way'. After all, how does it know what to do? Can the word 'magic' just scare away all assumptions of possible reasoning behind how they achieve the effects that the metals do? Obviously, Atium and Lerasium and their alloys will, for now, be reasoned away as 'God Metals' for the sake of a post too long already. Plus, we don't know what the Allomantic property of Lerasium was.

[Voidus]

I was actually just thinking about this from the other day when you posted it, we know that Feruchemy is divided realmatically could allomancy actually be the same? From this wee can see that the 'mental' powers could potentially be influenced physically (with miminum handwavium) Enhancement powers have always reminded me of the cognitive, changing the nature of things which is similar to how soulcasting works (If you stretch it a bit) which would make the Temporal abilities Spiritual, we know (I'm quite sure) that time bubbles stay in one place because it has the same spiritual connection to the ground as the person who made it, it doesn't just stay still because of the initial momentum of the person creating it.

That all being said I would say that this works for the physical metals and I can see how it would work with the cognitive (enhancement) metals as well, it changes the nature of the metals to either make them allomantically inert or allomantically super-charged (not sure how the second works still) as for the spiritual (Temporal) I'm still not entirely sure but I'm sure someone will think of something on this.

[Commander Spoonface]

Your theory makes perfect sense until it gets past the basic eight metals... for the temporal one, I think something else is at play.

[Windrunner]

Okay, I have just a couple comments/questions

Duralumin - Pushes on all the metals you're burning in order to flare them all away, unlocking the potential of the metal by breaking its compounds by sudden force, releasing the power of E=MC^2.

I don't think that duralumin works this way. I can't see matter being converted to energy here, which I believe is what E=MC² is all about. I think it probably just increases your connection to Preservation temporarily, allowing more power to be transmitted through the metal, at the cost of it being all expended. If you're goin E=MC² here, I believe that would be a nuclear reaction going on here, which would probably kill the Allomancer.

Plus, we don't know what the Allomantic property of Lerasium was.

I'm pretty sure Brandon has explicitly stated that Lerasium's primary affect is to increase the burner's connection to Preservation. An increased connection grants you Allomantic abilities. Sure there's other mysterious stuff you could do, but it's primary function is pretty simple. Have you seen a quote that I've missed that says otherwise?

Edited March 30, 2012 by Windrunner

[Voidus]

I'm pretty sure Brandon has explicitly stated that Lerasium's primary affect is to increase the burner's connection to Preservation. An increased connection grants you Allomantic abilities. Sure there's other mysterious stuff you could do, but it's primary function is pretty simple. Have you seen a quote that I've missed that says otherwise?

I think that it seems like that is just the most common reaction of burning Lerasium, not necessarily its primary use (although I suppose it depends on how you define it) but it certainly has other uses.

For Duralumin I don't think it's a temporary increase in your preservation connection, as that would just mean you get more power for the amount of metal you have, it wouldn't cause them to burn faster. It definitely seems to affect the metals themselves in some way, changing the speed at which they burn and consequently releasing more power all at once.

Edited March 31, 2012 by Voidus

[Windrunner]

I think that it seems like that is just the most common reaction of burning Lerasium, not necessarily its primary use (although I suppose it depends on how you define it) but it certainly has other uses.

By primary I mean basic default no special knowledge required. I mean sure you could use it for other things, but Brandon says he doesn't think that anyone knows how to actually do those things. It seems a stretch that lerasium's default setting wouldn't be it's primary function. Here's a quote to support that lerasium's primary function is a connection to Preservation.

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.)

Source

Since the mists are Preservation, then it seems Lerasium does connect it to Preservation. In my opinion, I think too much is being read into lerasium's other possibilities. You could hotwire it to power other processes, but that's not what it does. I could also be totally wrong though.

For Duralumin I don't think it's a temporary increase in your preservation connection, as that would just mean you get more power for the amount of metal you have, it wouldn't cause them to burn faster. It definitely seems to affect the metals themselves in some way, changing the speed at which they burn and consequently releasing more power all at once.

Sorry, I think I phrased that poorly. I mean that duralumin works kind of like electricity. You send too much power through a wire, you get more in the moment, less overall, because your connection to power, the wire, is fried. Duralumin works the same way allowing you to channel more power through metal, at the cost of the metal. More power in the short term, less overall. So basically the same thing you were saying.

Edited March 31, 2012 by Windrunner

[Odium's_Shard]

Yes, I stated in the theory that it began to break down with temporal effects, because they don't influence the Allomancer or others explicitly, but the force of Time, which is hard to pinpoint, and unlikely to contain metal traces.

About Duralumin, I'm sure I'm not right in the method that I stated. As you pointed out, having 3g of metals going from matter to energy in less than a second would mean the Allomancer wouldn't have the most ideal retirement to look forward to. It is more likely to do with the first reason I stated (I think?) that the transmitters in the brain are 'sped up' or geared to flare everything in HUGE quantities, as opposed to the normal rate of 'flare' and 'burn', due to altering Allomantic 'instincts'. This might put strain on the user however, in the same way as drugs do, because of the 'alteration' of bodily functions. Perhaps being a savant is like being an addict. Your body is irreversibly changed, maybe for the better, but you HAVE to keep taking the 'drug' in order to maintain any effect.

[Triasmus]

I'm almost positive that one the many quotes I've read in here said that Lerasium making allomancers is a side effect. I'll try to find it.

EDIT: I didn't search for very long, so I didn't find a quote, but this is what I read that said side effect.

Hello ;D

Edited April 1, 2012 by Lantern13

[Windrunner]

It is a side a affect. Burning lerasium gives you a greater connection to Preservation. It just so happens that a greater connection also allows you to be a Mistborn.

Hmm I just had a thought. Do lerasium Misttborn have to snap? I assumed no, but when Elend burned it, he was already in so much agony that maybe he snapped instantaneously.

The way I see it, Preservation was trying to get a replacement for himself. The Well would attune the person to Preservation, the lerasium would turn you into a Mistborn, (if you weren't one already) and allow you to burn the Mists, making you able to become the Shard. There may be other ways to do this, because anyone can hold a Shard, but this might be the easiest.

[Zas678]

I'm almost positive that one the many quotes I've read in here said that Lerasium making allomancers is a side effect. I'll try to find it.

EDIT: I didn't search for very long, so I didn't find a quote, but this is what I read that said side effect.

Hello ;D

Peter said that he didn't like that phrasing, since it seems to imply something that it doesn't.

Really, what Lerasium usually does is it increases your connection to Preservation dramatically, which, as a side effect, turns you into an allomancer.

Now there are other things that can be done with Lerasium as Brandon mentions:

BRANDON SANDERSON

By burning it you gain access to those powers. It rewrites your spiritual DNA, and there are ways to do really cool things with Lerasium that I don't see how anyone would know. Were most Mistborn to just burn it, it would rewrite their genetic code to increase their power as an Allomancer.

But that's outside the normal realm.

[dj26792]

Even aside from the temporal realm the same physical changes result in different emotions based on context and Breeze and Allrianne both have far more control than that would allow. Its an interesting idea but my understanding of psychology would suggest it doesnt work.

[Thought]

Tin - Pulls on the compounds within the body that have metallic traces that lead neurotransmitters to the brains from the sense perceptor, making them faster/more frequent and improving the use of the senses.

Fun idea but, alas, even for the lower 8 metals it doesn't work that way. Tin allows one to see through the mist, but such an ability doesn't work under your assumption. If all tin did was increase natural perceptions, then the mists should be more of an obstacle to sight, not less.

[Odium's_Shard]

This is true. Maybe, because the nature of the Pulling power is Allomantic, and thus Preservational, thus linked with the mists, it Pulls on the light (weak as it might be) around the mist, towards the Allomancer, allowing them to see behind and through the mists?

[lil_literalist]

I'm sorry, but your theory is just simply too much of a stretch. Even in the first 8 metals, you only had rational arguments for iron, steel, copper, and bronze. For the others, what you are claiming is just too complex. And there is no reason why in Zinc, Brass, Tin, or Pewter, pushing should effect one response and Pulling another. It would seem completely arbitrary to say that one set of metals speeds something up while another slows it down.

Also, you are incorrect in saying that there is metal in everything. Particularly, your understanding of how a brain receives signals is inadequate. Nerve impulses are part electrical and part chemical. But even so, thoughts are so much more complex than a single impulse, feelings even moreso. It's so much more complex that the allomancer would have to do this without understanding in the least what he is doing. And if no one could possibly understand what's going on because it's so incredibly complex that they're doing it instinctively... Isn't that basically saying what we already know, except trying to ascribe complicated, somewhat-unfounded reasons to it?

Now, I'm all for the development of theories on how and why things work the way they do. But I prefer exegesis, not eisegesis. I like looking at the evidence and then coming up with a theory that connects it all, rather than finding a theory and then trying to shoehorn in all of the evidence.

I felt bad because this post is so critical, but then I noted in your original post that all feedback is welcome, so I feel a bit better.

[bronzecompounder]

i'm in a rush so i haven't read all of the responses just yet BUT i think your basic idea is amazing! nice work! ;D

obviously some tweaking would be needed for the temporal metals, but other than that i'm fully into it. :3

[Commander Spoonface]

I have to agree lil_literalist. Occam's Razor states that the simpler explanation is more likely true, and this theory seems needlessly complex when "magic" works just as well.

[lil_literalist]

I chose this signature only partly because I like to keep things simple (although I do like to speculate about plot elements, which are based upon creativity). The other reason is because I have a full, luscious beard.

(Sig preserved for future generations: "The only razor I use is Occam's.")