Nicro-Bursting obscene amounts of metals

[Koloss17 She/They]

So we sort of get how Nicro-boosting works on a lot of metals. Pewter, you get super strong, steel you launch everything into the abyss, iron and tin, you just die, and so on. 
 

What of the weirder ones? Obviously aluminum and duralumin wouldn’t have too much affect, and chromium and nicrosil would be similar, but what of the forbidden four? The temporal metals?

For cadmium, I could see something like instantaneous time travel into the future. Bendalloy—doing a thousand things in the span of half a second?

Gold and Electrum is where things get really weird, as they’re weird metals in general. Would they be like Atium, where they just poke a hole in the spirit realm and wild things happen? Atium was predicated on Fortune, and getting a blast of the future, so would Electrum be similar? I suppose given that “Atium” was an electrum alloy, that would make sense.

 

So that just leaves gold. Gold is a weird Allomantic metal, so I have no idea what happens with that one. It doesn’t really tap into fortune, but messes with the Spiritual Realm somehow. I don’t know. Ideas, anyone? 
 

Spoiler

And no, I totally didn’t make this post because I have an Alleyverse character that will be doing exactly this

 

 

[Spearguy]

The way I see it is that gold could either give you much greater insight into the psychology of your alternate self, or the more likely and interesting one is being able to see multiple shadows giving you access to more different possibilities. 

[Koloss17 She/They]

10 minutes ago, Spearguy said:

The way I see it is that gold could either give you much greater insight into the psychology of your alternate self, or the more likely and interesting one is being able to see multiple shadows giving you access to more different possibilities. 

Honestly, that’s my thought too. Something that would enable a weird dream-state where you have access to hundreds of alternate selves for a short, unconscious, amount of time.

[Spearguy]

I've always thought that A-Gold has something to do with your Identity, not only does it neatly parallel the way that F-Gold healing works, but it also in that allomancy currently has no Identity based powers which seems off due to the fact that Hemalugy and Feruchemy have a heavy Identity mechanic. 

[Koloss17 She/They]

2 minutes ago, Spearguy said:

I've always thought that A-Gold has something to do with your Identity, not only does it neatly parallel the way that F-Gold healing works, but it also in that allomancy currently has no Identity based powers which seems off due to the fact that Hemalugy and Feruchemy have a heavy Identity mechanic. 

That’s a good point! I’m certain A-gold is very closely tied to Identity, but you are certainly right that it is pretty much the only allomantic metal to really do that.

[alder24]

Remember, nicrosil works the same way as duralumin, but you're making others burn all metals at once, not yourself.

 

13 hours ago, Koloss17 said:

For cadmium, I could see something like instantaneous time travel into the future. Bendalloy—doing a thousand things in the span of half a second?

Did you read TLM?

Spoiler

Wayne created a bubble with bendalloy that compressed time nearly to the speed of light. The same would be with nicrosil and cadmium. Just a bubble with ridiculous time compression.

 

13 hours ago, Koloss17 said:

chromium and nicrosil would be similar

Boosting a leecher who is actively leeching somebody would likely make him leech everything (if a leecher has enough chromium) from his target at a single moment. Keep in mind, leeching takes time if there are a lot of metals.

Spoiler

Kaymyth

I asked the question about chromium vs a Compounder with both Invested and un-Invested metals in both their stomach and piercings.

Brandon Sanderson

What it boils down to is this:

1) Yes, the piercings will get burned off.

2) The non-Invested metals go before the Invested ones. He said that because Invested metals are harder to affect, it takes a little extra time and effort to get them to burn off. So a Leecher trying to clean out a Compounder would have to get a good grip and hang on for a few seconds.

3) Chromium burns about as quickly as duralumin, so if you're trying to burn off a lot of metals, it is possible to run out of chromium before your target is clean. This would probably only be an issue when dealing with larger pieces (like jewelry) rather than your standard metal-flakes-in-the-stomach deal.

ConQuest 46 (May 22, 2015)

 

13 hours ago, Koloss17 said:

Gold and Electrum is where things get really weird, as they’re weird metals in general.

We know what electrum with dualumin/nicrosil would do - it would do almost the same what happened when Elend burned Atium with duralumin:

Spoiler

Wigginns

What would a Hemalurgic spike granting atium do for an Allomancer already able to burn atium? Does it function similarly to bronze, granting enhanced atium-ing? Along this line of thought, would enhancing electrum burning via spike be of any advantage?

Brandon Sanderson

A spike of something you have would enhance your ability, giving your more strength. With atium, more strength makes for a minimal edge--the length you can push out the atium shadows. However, there's a certain breaking point where you kind of crack the whole system, peer straight into the [Spiritual Realm], and kind of have a "It's full of stars" moment.

Electrum could reach this same moment, potentially, though there's more interference to fight through. Extra strength in electrum isn't going to be terribly useful up to that point.

Alsadius

Is that what happened when atium was burned with duralumin?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Footnote: In his original response Brandon mistakenly said burning atium and duralumin would cause the Allomancer to peer into the Cognitive Realm, rather than Spiritual Realm. He has since confirmed that this was a mistake.
/r/books AMA 2015 (Aug. 1, 2015)

Now with gold, you would make a person do what Kelsier experience when he was burning Malatium when he died - he peered into SR and saw Rashek's past, his Ascension - the same would likely happen to a person who is burning gold when boosted with nicrosil - instead of simply seeing his shadow, he would peer into SR and saw a clear vision of his past event (or possibly his alternate present - but a single one, not hundreds - like Kelsier with Rashek's vision).

[Koloss17 She/They]

42 minutes ago, alder24 said:

Now with gold, you would make a person do what Kelsier experience when he was burning Malatium when he died - he peered into SR and saw Rashek's past, his Ascension - the same would likely happen to a person who is burning gold when boosted with nicrosil - instead of simply seeing his shadow, he would peer into SR and saw a clear vision of his past event (or possibly his alternate present - but a single one, not hundreds - like Kelsier with Rashek's vision).

Was that burning duralumin enhanced?

[Walter The Moral]

15 hours ago, Koloss17 said:

For cadmium, I could see something like instantaneous time travel into the future.

I would love to see a Cadmium Nicrosil boost! I wonder if you could calculate how much that would move into the future exactly, but I'm sure it would be quite a bit. Well, actually, it would probably move the same amount into the future, just much, much faster.

[alder24]

23 minutes ago, Koloss17 said:

Was that burning duralumin enhanced?

No, Kel experienced that without duralumin, he flared Malatrium when he died. Leras later told him that because of that, because he flared Malatium in the moment of transition, he was able to see a glimpse of SR. That's why I think Malatium with duralumin would normally give the same effect, likewise gold and duralumin (or in this case nicrosil).

[Underwater_Worldhopper he/him]

I agree with Alder, Gold and Malatium probably work through Connections to the past (since we know Spiritwebs have some awareness of time given they can keep track of how old person is), so Nicrobursting/Duralumin flaring them would probably give you a vision of the past à la Kelsier's vision during his death, even if its brief, through the Spiritual Realm

[Koloss17 She/They]

3 hours ago, Underwater_Worldhopper said:

I agree with Alder, Gold and Malatium probably work through Connections to the past (since we know Spiritwebs have some awareness of time given they can keep track of how old person is), so Nicrobursting/Duralumin flaring them would probably give you a vision of the past à la Kelsier's vision during his death, even if its brief, through the Spiritual Realm

 

5 hours ago, alder24 said:

No, Kel experienced that without duralumin, he flared Malatrium when he died. Leras later told him that because of that, because he flared Malatium in the moment of transition, he was able to see a glimpse of SR. That's why I think Malatium with duralumin would normally give the same effect, likewise gold and duralumin (or in this case nicrosil).

Honestly, I feel like it would be drastically stronger than just a simple vision, as you are burning everything at once, not just flaring it. How would it be stronger? That I do not know. But it would need to be stronger.

[Underwater_Worldhopper he/him]

4 minutes ago, Koloss17 said:

 

Honestly, I feel like it would be drastically stronger than just a simple vision, as you are burning everything at once, not just flaring it. How would it be stronger? That I do not know. But it would need to be stronger.

I imagine 'stronger' in this sense would mean clearer. The stronger the flare, the clearer and crisper the vision, until at some point I imagine it would become something like

SA Spoilers

Spoiler

the Stormfather's visions, where the Augur/Malatium Misting could experience it like a fully experienceable, three-dimensional vision where they could move around, and examine things, as if they were actually, physically in the memory, except they couldn't interact with anything, and the vision would necessarily have to be very short, so it wouldn't e very useful unless you have some strong source of Investiture,

like the Unkeyed Dor the Allomancers use to hyper-charge their Allomancy in TLM. People have made arguments that this is what happens when you Compound Copper.

[alder24]

37 minutes ago, Koloss17 said:

Honestly, I feel like it would be drastically stronger than just a simple vision, as you are burning everything at once, not just flaring it. How would it be stronger? That I do not know. But it would need to be stronger.

This didn't happen because he flared Malatium, but because he died and his soul got closer to SR. That's why. That's what Leras said. Death made it work like duralumin, it brought him closer to SR, pulled him away from PR (he lost connection to PR). Normally flaring Malatium won't grant you a vision. Just like with Atium - you need to pass that line to peer into SR, to have this "I see all stars" moment - like the WoB said.

[Koloss17 She/They]

3 minutes ago, alder24 said:

This didn't happen because he flared Malatium, but because he died and his soul got closer to SR. That's why. That's what Leras said. Death made it work like duralumin, it brought him closer to SR, pulled him away from PR (he lost connection to PR). Normally flaring Malatium won't grant you a vision. Just like with Atium - you need to pass that line to peer into SR, to have this "I see all stars" moment - like the WoB said.

Ah, that’s the what I failed to connect. Thanks for the clarification!

[Trusk'our he/him]

 

On 5/9/2023 at 8:55 PM, Koloss17 said:

Honestly, that’s my thought too. Something that would enable a weird dream-state where you have access to hundreds of alternate selves for a short, unconscious, amount of time.

That just sounds really cool. I certainly hope that turns out to be true; it would be like- 

Calamity spoilers (for those who have read the Reckoners series):

Spoiler

Megan in the final battle with Prof- she had access to thousands of different versions of reality and could draw on them to make changes in her world.

Only, it would be for experience and skill and not external factors like bullets and cave-ins.

On 5/9/2023 at 9:04 PM, Spearguy said:

I've always thought that A-Gold has something to do with your Identity, not only does it neatly parallel the way that F-Gold healing works, but it also in that allomancy currently has no Identity based powers which seems off due to the fact that Hemalugy and Feruchemy have a heavy Identity mechanic. 

That... actually makes a lot of sense. 

I had always just imagined that the two powers of gold were just wonky mismatched things that didn't line up at all. But having both work with the Identity of the practitioner makes things fit together really well.

[cometaryorbit]

On 5/10/2023 at 4:35 PM, alder24 said:

This didn't happen because he flared Malatium, but because he died and his soul got closer to SR. That's why. That's what Leras said.

Technically it's both - "the metal, flared at the moment of transition".

[alder24]

14 minutes ago, cometaryorbit said:

Technically it's both - "the metal, flared at the moment of transition".

Yes, that's what I said in an earlier post. Here I should add "just because he flared Malatium''. My point was just flaring Malatium won't make a vision. Dying and flaring will. Burning duralumin with Malatium will as well.